


Dating a Demon

by Anonymous



Series: Deal with a Demon [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Angel!Lloyd, Angel!Nya, Angst, Cole and Jay have a Bad Time, Cole is annoyed, Everyone suffers including Kai, Evil AU, Hurt/Comfort, I figured out how to write angst and now it's all I write, I have no idea what I’m doing send help, I know I said there wasn't going to be a sequel but SURPRISE!, Jay Centric, Kai wants to be loved but he's too stupid to understand how love actually works, Lloyd is alive, Look I’m not gonna tag all the NSFW things that happen I don’t have time for that, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, NSFW, Not Canon Compliant, Nya is so done, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suffering, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Things will probably get better, Torture, Trauma, What Have I Done, Why make ONE character suffer when I can make ALL of them suffer, Yay I wrote a sequel!, You read the previous fic you knew what you were getting into when you started this, demon!kai, no beta we die like zane, vampire!Cole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:15:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 36,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23982934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Being under the effects of a love potion isn't too bad. In all honesty, it seems to be bothering Cole more than Jay. Then again, a lot of things are annoying Cole- particularly Kai. But at least the demon has his sister back... right?(Read 'Deal with a Demon' first or you will be REALLY confused)
Relationships: Cole & Jay Walker, Cole & Nya (Ninjago), Cole/Jay Walker, Kai/Jay Walker
Series: Deal with a Demon [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722388
Comments: 117
Kudos: 122
Collections: Anonymous





	1. What Is Love? Not This.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: There's not going to be a sequel because I don't have a plot idea.  
> Me: *comes up with a plot idea*  
> Me:  
> Me: Well shit.
> 
> Lol, I hope you guys enjoy!

Jay blinks as he wakes up, taking a moment to register his surroundings. Ah. He’s laying in the guest room bed with Kai.

The demon had had to leave for a while before he was able to come to bed, but it didn’t bother Jay. It just gave him a chance to play video games with Cole.

Speaking of Cole, where is he? The human wriggles free of the sleeping demon’s grasp and gets up from the bed. He could’ve sworn that the vampire was in here last night… 

He blinks in surprise when he sees him propped up against the wall, asleep. Was he on the floor the whole night? That must’ve been really uncomfortable. Jay’ll have to talk to Kai about getting him somewhere to sleep- even if he doesn’t trust the vampire to be on his own, he could still give him something to sleep on. Even an air mattress would be better than leaning up against the wall.

Jay quietly makes his way over to Cole, gently shaking him awake. “Hey.” He prompts softly, careful to avoid being heard by Kai.

Wait- why does he not want Kai to hear? 

He doesn’t get any time to dwell on the question, because Cole tiredly opens his eyes. “Hey.” He returns sluggishly. He blinks a few times, clearly trying to get a grasp of what’s going on. Then realization dawns on his features, and he suddenly looks pained.

“I’ll see about Kai getting you a better place to sleep.” Jay assures.

“That'd be nice.” The vampire gives him a small, sad smile. He seems upset, and Jay knows it’s because he’s under the effects of the love potion. 

“It’s not so bad.” He promises. “Loving Kai isn’t going to hurt me, and I’m sure that once you’ve proven he can trust you, he’ll give you more freedom.”

Cole doesn’t answer, he just looks off to the side. His pain is clearly visible, and the human struggles as he tries to think of a way to make him feel better. 

There’s a knock on the door, and Kai makes a grumbling noise. He fumbles around for a moment, panic slowly starting to set over him. “Jay?” He looks around, and the young adult quickly runs over to him.

“Right here.” He smiles. 

The demon immediately relaxes, his panicked expression fading as it switches to a more adoring one. “Your bed head is cute.”

There’s another knock.

Kai groans. “Coming!” He calls, getting up from the bed, proceeding to make his way over to the door. He opens it, and Zane stands on the other side. 

“The invasion was a success.” The Nindroid tells him. “Approximately ninety-nine point three two seven eight percent of the population has been infected.”

Kai nods. “And the Green Ninja?”

“Stripped of his elemental powers. The Overlord has taken your suggestion of releasing him onto the mainland. It is unlikely he will be able to survive.” The White Ninja states matter-of-factly.

“That’s great and all, but why did you come wake me up?” The demon asks, glancing back at Jay. The human gives a small wave, but Zane ignores him.

“You did not kill Cole.” The Nindroid’s expression is blank, but there’s a note of confusion and slight annoyance underneath his tone.

“I did not.” Kai agrees.

“Why? He is only a threat to you. He could very well cause a multitude of problems to arise- some of which you may not be able to contain.” 

“Jay needs a friend.” Kai explains.

“You should not have released Dareth.” The White Ninja tells him.

“He was annoying.” The demon protests. “And I don’t think Jay liked him, anyways.” He turns back to the human. “Babe, did you like Dareth?”

Jay feels himself flush red. Babe? He kind of likes the sound of that… “Uh, not really.” He admits.

Kai nods. “I didn’t think so.” He turns back to Zane. “I’ll keep him in check.” He promises.

Cole gets up from his spot on the floor. “Morning, Snowflake.” He greets, doing a quick stretch. He flashes the Nindroid a grin, and Zane responds with a sharp glare.

“Do not refer to me as ‘Snowflake’.”

“So I take it you’re still mad at me.” The vampire scratches the back of his neck. “Sorry, I guess.”

“I do not accept your apology.” The White Ninja turns his attention back to Kai. “He is insufferable and I would like him removed.”

“Request denied.” The demon brushes him off. “If he fucks up too much, then we can talk. But for now, we’re keeping him.”

Zane doesn’t seem to like this answer, but he doesn’t push the matter further. “Any requests for breakfast?”

“Is there anything Cole doesn’t like?”

Jay frowns, about to argue against the demon, but the Nindroid is already talking.

“Most healthy things.” He answers, the ghost of a smile on his face. Hmm… speaking of ghosts, what happened to Morro? Zane explained what happened to Lloyd, but didn’t even mention the undead being.

A grin creeps across Kai’s face. “Cool. Could Jay and I have pancakes though?”

Cole makes a strained noise, clearly unhappy with this arrangement. This gets the demon’s attention, who turns to face the vampire. “Yeah, sucks to be you, doesn’t it? I wonder, is it as bad as getting  **_killed_ ** ?”

The younger immortal looks away, refusing to make eye contact. Kai smirks, satisfied with this reaction.

Zane suddenly stiffens, his eyes gaining a far away look. It fades after a moment, and he relaxes, turning back to the demon. “The Overlord has requested your presence.” 

“Ughhhhh.” The older immortal whines. “Fine.” He glances back at Jay. “You going to be okay without me here?”

The human gives a playful glare. “I don’t need to be micromanaged.” 

“Okay, okay.” Kai puts his hands up in surrender, but he’s smiling, showing that he knows that Jay is only messing around. “I’ll see you later, Bluejay.” He tosses a wink over his shoulder as he walks out the door.

“Later, hot stuff.” Jay returns.

The demon freezes in place, turning back around. “Huh?” He questions, his face flushing red.

The young adult feels his own face burn as he tries to explain himself. “Heh, uh, well… you call me Bluejay, and I thought maybe… and you’re the Master of Fire, and fire is hot, so…” He trails off, looking to the ground in order to avoid eye contact.

The older immortal walks up to him, and Jay is dimly aware that both Zane and Cole are watching them, but in all honesty, he can’t bring himself to care.

Kai is right next to him, a slight amber glow to his eyes. “You’re a tease.” He breathes, and Jay has to resist the urge to bridge the gap between them and kiss the demon. 

There’s a pause, those orange-tinted irises staring into his own, a seductive smile on his face.

The demon’s eyes start to close, and it seems like he’s about to start a kiss himself- but he’s suddenly interrupted by a false, overly-exaggerated clearing of the throat. 

They both turn to see an annoyed Zane. “The Overlord has requested your presence.” He reminds.

“We were having a moment!” Kai protests, clearly annoyed.

“Emphasis on the  _ ‘were’ _ .” Cole snorts, a grin on his face.

“You should really watch your mouth.” The demon snaps, turning to the vampire. “I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t go around sassing me like that.” 

Without waiting for a reply, he turns back to Jay, pressing a feather-light kiss to his temple. “I’ll be back soon.” He promises.

And with that, he heads past Zane and out the door, heading off to Hell. God, that’s so weird to think about. He’s  **_dating_ ** a  **_demon_ ** .

His life is so weird. But he wouldn’t trade it for anything. As odd as it is to be dating a demon while living with a vampire and a Nindroid, it somehow feels like everything he’s ever wanted.

“I will be making breakfast.” Zane interrupts his thoughts. “May I take Cole with me?”

Jay doesn’t even need to see Cole’s panicked expression to know that that’s a  **_bad idea_ ** . The Nindroid is clearly upset with the vampire, and leaving them alone together sounds like a recipe for disaster.

“He’ll hang with me.” He tells Zane. “But thank you. We’ll be in the living room.”

The Nindroid nods and walks away, but before he’s fully out of sight, Jay asks a question, something that has been bothering him for a while.

“Why did you want to keep Lloyd alive?”

Cole looks over to the Nindroid. “I’ve been wondering that too.”

Zane pauses a moment. “That is not essential information.”

“That just sounds like a fancy way of saying you don’t want to tell me.” Jay notes. “It doesn’t matter anymore, right? Why can’t you tell me?”

“It is not essential for you to have this knowledge.” The White Ninja makes to leave once more.

The human walks up to him, followed by Cole. “I’ll keep pestering you until you tell me.” He threatens. “I can be really annoying when I want to be.”

“Only when you want to be?” Zane arches an eyebrow. 

“Ha, yeah, but imagine how much worse it’ll be when I’m  **_trying_ ** .” The human flashes a smile. “I promise it won’t be fun.”

He hears Cole snicker behind him, but he doesn’t acknowledge the vampire, he just stares the Nindroid down, a smug grin still on his face.

Zane gives a small sigh. “Very well. I wanted to find a way to harness his golden power. I knew that Kai would want to kill him the moment he obtained him, so I had attempted to enlist your help. In the end, I was able to accomplish this feat. Is this answer to your satisfaction?”

Jay blinks. “Harness his golden power?” He questions.

“Steal his element.” The Nindroid elaborates. “It is beyond anything else we have ever encountered, and being able to use this energy for other purposes will be quite useful.” 

The human pauses. “That makes sense.” He agrees. He doesn’t really like the idea that elemental powers can be stolen and used by other people, but given the circumstances, he can understand why that would be helpful- though he does feel bad for Lloyd. It’s not his fault destiny said he had to fight Kai.

“May I go?” Zane asks, clearly somewhat annoyed by the repeated questions.

“Oh! Uh, yeah.” He’s not entirely sure when the Nindroid started following his orders, but it most likely has something to do with Kai.

And so with that, the White Ninja leaves.

Jay hesitates, slightly confused. He turns back to look at Cole. “Why couldn’t he just tell Kai that?” He wonders.

“You ask this like I have an answer for you.” The vampire frowns. “I’m just as lost as you are.” 

He seems bothered, but Jay can tell that there’s more to it than Zane’s secrecy. Is he still upset about the whole love potion thing? The human is okay with it, so why would it still be an issue for him?

He hesitates a moment. Is there something he can do to make this better for him? He knows that this situation really isn’t ideal for the vampire, and that Kai is being kind of rude to him, but there’s got to be something he can do to make things better.

He’ll talk to the demon about it later, but for now, he should try to come up with something else. What did Cole do when he was upset?

“Want to keep playing Assassin’s Creed?” 

He still feels somewhat upset over the way Kai had acted before. He said  **_no_ ** . But at the same time, he knows that the demon was only trying to show that he cared- he went about it really badly, but he won’t do it again.

But if Kai asked again, would there even be a ‘no’ to ignore?

The vampire smiles, but there’s still that pain in his eyes. “Sure.” He agrees. “That sounds fun.”

* * *

They play for a good half hour before Zane shows up and ushers them into the dining room. And just like Kai requested, everyone but Cole gets pancakes- the vampire gets a salad. He’s visibly annoyed by this, but he doesn’t complain- not verbally, anyway.

The human feels kind of bad for him, but the three eat their meals in silence. He glances over at Kai’s seat a few times, but the demon doesn’t make an appearance.

After a few minutes, he turns to Zane. “When do you think Kai will be back?”

As if on cue, the demon bounces through the doorway, clearly excited. Jay’s about to ask what’s going on, when a woman- no, scratch that, an  **_angel_ ** \- follows him. She glances around the room, clearly uneasy.

But this doesn’t seem to deter Kai, who continues grinning. “Let me introduce you to the team!”

“Okay…” The angel agrees slowly.

The demon makes his way over to them. “This is Zane. He’s a Nindroid, and one of my best friends.” He begins, gesturing to the White Ninja. 

He then turns to the vampire. “This is Cole, he’s a back-stabbing little bitch.” 

The younger immortal sighs, but continues to wordlessly pick at his salad.

The angel seems somewhat confused by this, but Kai doesn’t stop to explain, he just comes up to Jay. “And this is Jay, my boyfriend.” He finishes, that smile still on his face. 

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Nya.” The angel smiles, but it seems somewhat strained. She turns back to Kai. “Will you  **_please_ ** tell me what you did?”

“It’s not import-“

“He infected everyone in Ninjago with Dark Matter.” Cole explains. “It was part of his deal with the Overlord.”

“You made a deal with the Overlord?!” Nya exclaims, her eyes widening as her wings flair out. “Kai, why-“

“I did what I had to.” The demon defends himself. “And it worked! You’re alive again!” He gives Cole a dirty look, but the vampire keeps his eyes on his food.

“I’m not worth everyone in Ninjago!” Nya argues, clearly distraught. 

“You’re right. You’re worth more.” 

Kai’s sister opens her mouth to respond, but the Nindroid starts talking.

“Ms. Nya, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. But I can assure you that the people under the effects of Dark Matter are not in any form of pain.”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re in pain, their minds have been corrupted! They don’t have any control of their thoughts or actions!” The angel snaps.

“Having manipulated thoughts isn’t so bad.” Jay pipes up. “I mean, I’m under the effects of a love potion and I-“

Nya spins to face Kai. “What is  **_wrong_ ** with you?!” She yells. “I can’t believe that you would-“

“But I did!” The demon shoots back. “And I don’t regret a thing.” 

The angel stands there, flabbergasted. It seems to take her a moment before she can fully acknowledge him. “I don’t know what to say.” 

“A  _ ‘thank you’  _ would be nice.”

“What  **_happened_ ** to you?!” She demands. “You’re not Kai. You look and sound like him, but you are  **_not_ ** my brother.” And with that, she turns on her heel and walks out.


	2. Food Is A Luxury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this angst? I don't know! I hope so...

Kai just stands there, his heartbreak clearly visible on his face. All he wanted was to be loved, how could his sister do that to him?!

Jay gets up and makes to go after her, but Kai stops him, grabbing his wrist. “Don’t. It’s okay.” He promises, but the pain in his voice contradicts him.

“You went through **_all_** **_this_** to bring her back, and she-“

“And she has every right to be upset.” The demon interjects. “I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting this.”

“But-“

“Jay.” Kai pulls the human back to him, so close that they’re almost touching. He can  **_feel_ ** the heat radiating off of the immortal.

“It’s nice to know you care, but please don’t start anything. She just needs a little time, that’s all.” It sounds like he’s trying to reassure himself just as much as Jay.

The young adult glances off to where the angel left. “If you say so…” He agrees reluctantly. 

“I do. Now come on, let’s eat breakfast.” The demon gives him a small, sad smile and brings him to the table before letting go of his wrist, sitting down.

Jay sits besides him and returns to his pancakes. They’re somewhat cold now, but they’re still delicious.

There’s a pause. A few minutes pass in it, and the human busies himself with his food. Slowly, Kai seems to relax, that tense sadness leaving him. And not long after it does, he speaks up.

“Enjoying your salad?” He smirks, staring at the vampire across from him.

Cole doesn’t answer, he just keeps picking at the food. But unfortunately, Kai isn’t done with him yet.

“I asked you a question.” The demon points out, a hint of malice in his voice.

Cole speaks through gritted teeth. “Not my favorite.” He confirms, clearly annoyed. But still, the older immortal keeps pushing.

“Zane made that for you. You should really finish eating it.” That smirk returns, and Jay finds himself wanting to intervene. Kai has every right to be upset, but-

But what? Ugh. His brain is so messed up. Nothing works the way he wants it to anymore. It’s all just so  **_complicated_ ** .

Cole grumbles something quietly, but reluctantly starts taking actual bites, making faces all the while.

Kai seems triumphant, and Jay just keeps eating. He feels bad for Cole, but really, what was he thinking when he turned on the demon?

The demon beside him seems happier than he did a minute ago, so that’s a good sign. Hopefully it wasn’t bullying Cole that did that, but he can’t be certain if it was or was not.

“So that was Nya.” The vampire comments.

“Stop talking.” Kai demands.

“I didn’t even-”

“Stop. Talking.” The demon glowers.

Jay glances between them. Doesn’t Cole know to not antagonize Kai? Why does he keep doing this?

The vampire sighs loudly, but goes back to the salad once more. He’s clearly upset, and Kai doesn’t seem too happy either. Zane is… well,  **_Zane_ ** , and Jay…

Jay’s not sure how he feels.

After a while of eating in silence, everyone except Cole has finished their food. Usually the vampire eats more than any of them in record time, but it seems that when it comes to something he doesn’t want to eat, he drags it out longer.

Zane wordlessly starts picking up the plates, and Jay nervously bounces his leg. Silence. He  **_hates_ ** silence.

“Everything okay?” His boyfriend questions, a concerned look on his face. The human hesitates a beat before giving a nod.

“Yeah.” He confirms. “Quiet just isn’t my thing.”

“Well, you could always continue that monologue.” Kai suggests. “The Fries Dennalin one.”

“Did- did you just call Fritz Donnagan  _ ‘Fries Dennalin’ _ ?” Jay stares at the demon, not entirely sure if he’s amused or annoyed. 

“Fritz Donnagan, that’s it.” The immortal snaps his fingers. “I was close.”

The young adult has to fight back a laugh. “You weren’t listening to a thing I was saying last time, were you?”

Is- is Kai blushing?  **_Kai_ ** ? “You’re cute when you ramble.” He mumbles, glancing away.

And Jay feels his own face heat up. “Uh.” He squeaks. “Thank you?” 

Cole gives a loud, exasperated sigh, and the human shoots him a look. Why do all of their moments keep getting ruined?

“What do you plan to do now that you have your sister back?” Zane questions from the kitchen.

“Live a happy life? You’re not obligated to stay here, you know. But in all honesty, I just want to kick back and relax.” The demon admits. “If you don’t want that, I’m sure the Overlord would have some other task for you.”

The Nindroid nods, and doesn’t ask any further questions. There’s silence once more, and Jay groans internally. He  **_hates_ ** the silence.

A few minutes pass.

“You know I can’t just survive on salad, right?” Cole speaks up. “I’m a vampire, I still need to feed. Before I would just go out, but I don’t think that’s going to work anymore.”

Kai sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Are there any alternatives to human blood?” He questions.

Jay’s not liking this conversation. He tries not to think about how Cole feeds off of people- and while he knows the vampire has had a recent change of heart, it still pains him to think of what he’s done in the past.

“None that I know of.” The younger immortal frowns. “But-”

“There are.” Zane joins the conversation. “At least, in theory. I have come up with several possible substitutions, but I am not certain if any of them will be sufficient.”

“Okay, let’s hear them.” Kai nods.

“Animal blood would be an immediate go-to, but if this does not work, the next alternative would be coconut water.” The Nindroid informs them. “After that, raw meat would be the next best choice. If none of these are effective, it may be possible to use a sample of human blood to engineer some kind of supplement that would keep him stable until another solution is found.”

It’s clear that Cole doesn’t like any of these ideas, more and more disgust showing on his face the longer the White Ninja talks.

Kai nods once more, turning back to the vampire. “About how long can you last? And  **_don’t_ ** try to bullshit me. I  **_will_ ** find out.”

The Black Ninja grimances. “A week, best case scenario.” He admits. “But it’s already been four days, and vengestone isn’t exactly going to help the situation. So… about another day, max.”

“Technically, a week is how long he can go without symptoms beginning to show.” Zane points out. “In ideal conditions, he could last triple that time before a risk of permanent damage or death occurred.”

Cole tenses up, and Jay does the same. “You’re, uh, you’re not actually going to starve me, right?” The vampire looks to Kai, slight fear flickering across his features.

“So long as you behave.” The demon agrees with a glare.

The young adult glances at the older immortal, concerned. “Kai, I know you’re upset at him, but doesn’t starvation seem a bit extreme to you?”

“He killed me.” The demon argues. “He’s lucky I’m not doing the same.”

The human fights back the urge to argue. No,  **_Jay_ ** killed him. Cole helped, but he wasn’t the one who struck the final blow.

“Alright.” The young adult gives in reluctantly. “But only if it’s absolutely necessary, okay?” He looks over at the vampire, still concerned.

He’s clearly very tense, his expression just short of outright panic. He opens his mouth to say something, but Kai silences him with a  **_look_ ** . 

The demon then turns to Jay. “Okay.” He agrees, but there’s something to it that makes the human slightly uneasy. But he brushes it off- Kai agreed, and he wouldn’t lie to him.

Cole shifts uncomfortably, glancing around the room as if looking for something to help him get out of this situation. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to find anything, and he curls in on himself a little.

Zane seems happy with this arrangement, the corner of his lip twitching up. It makes Jay somewhat uneasy- not only does the Nindroid rarely smile, but when he does, it’s about  **_starving someone_ ** ? What kind of fucked up logic is that?

“Jay, want to come with me to find Nya?” Kai prompts, turning to his boyfriend. “She’ll warm up to you eventually, and I think you two will get along great.”

The human glances over at Cole, and then at Zane. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to leave the two alone together… 

The demon seems to notice his concern, and he turns to the White Ninja. “Don’t kill him. Or give him any long-lasting injuries.” He then pauses a moment before adding, “To clarify, I’m talking about Cole.”

Zane gives a somewhat hesitant nod. “Understood.” He confirms.

The young adult notes that Kai specifically said  _ ‘long-lasting injuries’ _ rather than anything about  **_avoiding_ ** injuries. But something tells him that that’s the best he’s going to get. So he gives the demon a nod, and gets up from his seat. “How are we going to find her?”

“I know her well enough to know where she’ll hide.” His boyfriend assures, getting up himself. “Come on, let’s go.”

* * *

And true enough, it doesn’t take very long. They head into the library, and once inside, despite the rows and rows of bookshelves, it only takes Kai two minutes to find her.

Nya sits on the floor, her body hunched. She seems to be trying to hide from the outside world, her wings a shield around her.

Kai walks over, crouching beside her, Jay awkwardly waiting a few meters away. He reaches out to touch her, but she flinches when he does, so he backs off.

The demon hesitates, clearly debating what he should do. But after a few moments, he starts talking. 

“I know I fucked up.” He admits. 

There’s a quiet pause, and the demonic immortal glances away. There’s something about this that feels almost intimate, and Jay feels like he shouldn’t be seeing it.

“I didn’t know what to do without you, so I did everything I could to bring you back. You have every right to be mad at me, but if it means keeping you safe, I would do it all again.”

Nya’s wings draw back a little, just enough to her face. “And how do you explain **_him_**?” She glances over to Jay.

The human tenses a little. Did he do something wrong? Why is she mad at him? He’s barely even spoken to her!

Kai winces. “I was lonely.” He sighs. “And- and it’s  **_hard_ ** , not having anyone. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You keep saying that. But I  **_know_ ** you have morals, Kai. What  **_happened_ ** to you?” Its then that Jay notices the red eyes and tear tracks on her face. She’s clearly been hurt by what’s occured.

There’s a long, heavy pause. The human stays as still as he can, doing his best to not interrupt whatever the Hell is going on here.

“I don’t know.” Kai whispers, his voice full of anguish.

That heavy pause resumes, and Jay bites his lip. Why did Kai bring him here? He feels so out of place. This isn’t something he’s meant to be seeing.

The demon stands up, and with his voice still laden with pain, he says, “I love you, you know.”

Nya doesn’t answer, her wings coming around to shelter her once more.

Kai turns away, clearly hurt by the lack of a response. But he doesn’t get upset, he doesn’t yell, he just walks away. After a moment of hesitation, Jay follows, sending one last glance to the angel as he does.

They walk out of the library, and the young adult glances over his boyfriend, worried. The demon is tense, sad. The waves of melancholy radiate off of him, and Jay debates what he should do. Video games probably aren’t going to cut it here… 

“I love you.” He assures the immortal. 

But for some reason, this doesn’t seem to help. Kai merely gives him a sad, pained smile. “I know you do.” If anything, his words seem to have made the situation worse.

**_Gah_ ** . What is he doing wrong here? He’s got absolutely  **_no_ ** relationship experience! He’s got no idea what he’s doing! How is he supposed to help?!

“I also know that it’s not real. I wish it was. **_First_** **_Spinjitzu_** **_Master_** , I wish it was. But it’s just the potion. I just- I wish I didn’t have to psychologically manipulate people in order to be loved. But who could ever love a demon?” Kai stops walking, and Jay stops beside him. The immortal glances off to the side.

“It’s nice to pretend, though.”

Jay hesitates a moment. What is he supposed to say to that? Is there even something he  **_can_ ** say? If there is, he can’t think of it.

So instead of trying to use his words, he grabs his boyfriend and pulls him into a hug, pressing his face into his chest. 

Kai hesitates a moment before wrapping his arms around the human, pulling him closer. The tight squeeze is slightly painful, but Jay doesn’t comment on it.

“You  **_are_ ** worth something.” The young adult assures quietly. “You’re worth  **_everything_ ** .”

The squeeze becomes even tighter, and the demon in his grasp begins to shake. It takes the human a moment to register that he’s crying.

If Jay ever finds himself alone with Nya, she’s going to get one Hell of a talking-to.


	3. Nothing Can Change That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Laughs maniacally*

Bit by bit, Kai pulls back. His eyes are red from crying, and he wipes at the tear tracks on his face. He gives Jay a small, thankful smile. “Bluejay…” He murmurs softly.

The human returns the smile. “C’mon. Let’s go make sure Cole’s still in one piece.” At the moment, he’s actually only half-concerned for the vampire- he’s more worried about distracting Kai from his thoughts.

The demon gives a small, hesitant nod, and the two of them walk off. It takes a good thirty minutes to find the other two Ninja, and by then, Kai seems to have calmed down- for the most part, anyway.

And it looks like it’s a good thing they went to find them. The Black and White Ninja are in the living room, Zane relaxed on the couch as he reads a book. Cole sits on the floor, covered in small cuts and bruises, as well as a relatively large gash on his cheek, which he seems to be trying to ignore.

Kai turns to Zane. “So, how’d it go?”

“He is insufferable.”

“I didn’t even do anything!” Cole protests, but he’s quickly silenced by the Nindroid’s icy glare, and he turns his attention to the floor. 

Jay goes over to him, crouching down. “That looks painful.” He comments with a slight wince. And it does. The bloody wound on his face isn’t gushing blood or anything, but it’s definitely swollen.

“I didn’t even do anything.” He repeats, this time in a quiet mutter.

Kai looks over at the two of them, and Jay feels as though something is…  **_off_ ** . He wants to help, but as of right now, Cole is  **_physically_ ** injured, and he feels like that takes priority. 

“Uh, the first move is to put pressure on a wound, right?” The human prompts. “I don’t exactly know much about medical things, but-”

“I’m fine.” Cole interjects. “It’ll heal soon. I’m a vampire, remember? I’ll be fine.” His small smile is clearly forced, but it’s obvious that he wants Jay to leave him alone. He keeps glancing over to the demon, seeming stressed.

The young adult gives a hesitant nod. “Okay.” He agrees, getting to his feet. He’s concerned about the younger immortal’s health, but if he doesn’t want Jay’s help, well, there’s not much he can do.

The human goes back over to his boyfriend, who is currently glaring at the wall like it’s personally offended him. He keeps glancing over to Cole, still with that scowl.

So they’re definitely still mad at each other. Good to know. Although the vampire seems more scared than upset, which he supposes makes sense- Kai  **_does_ ** have the upper hand in pretty much everything.

As soon as he’s near Kai, the demon pulls him close, which is somewhat startling. Even so, he doesn’t resist, he just lets himself be tightly hugged. He’s pretty sure that the older immortal is still glaring at Cole, which he notes as odd, but doesn’t comment on.

From the corner of his eye, he watches as Zane closes his book and gets up from his seat, leaving the room. The sudden display of affection might have been awkward for him… god, Jay didn’t even think about it until now. How’s  **_Cole_ ** reacting to it? Why did Kai just decide to randomly hug him? Okay, well, he’s probably still upset over earlier, but it still feels somewhat awkward.

He squirms his way out of the demon’s grasp, and though he’s clearly reluctant, the immortal lets him.

“Is everything okay?” Jay looks up at his boyfriend. 

“Hmm? Uh, yeah. Everything’s fine.” Wow. Even  **_Jay_ ** can tell that he’s lying. There’s clearly  **_something_ ** bothering him, and it’s gotta be big if it’s this obvious.

“I can kiss it better.” He offers. It’s a stupid line, especially since it’s probably emotional rather than physical, but he tries it anyway.

“Well in that case, my dick hurts.” 

Jay feels his face flush bright red as his brain blanks out. What?  **_What_ ** ? He’s making a sexual remark  **_now_ ** ? The young adult is trying to help him feel better, why is he making it inappropriate?!

He freezes, trying to think of how the Hell he should respond to that. A sly voice tells him that he should say  _ ‘Okay’ _ and get down on his knees, but he doesn’t even need the screaming in the back of his mind to decide that that’s a bad idea.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Kai smiles, but it’s not a happy smile. It’s not seductive, either, but it definitely seems to be based on sex.

“Uh.” Jay stares at his boyfriend with wide eyes. That’s all he can say, his brain too wrapped up in the demon’s remarks.

_ ‘ “Let’s see just how loud I can make you scream.” ‘ _

The young adult hears himself give a soft whimper. His mind is a mess, a jumble of incoherent screaming and begging and panic and pleading. 

But much to his surprise, Kai doesn’t keep pushing it. His smile softens, and he gives a light laugh. “Just teasing.” He assures.

Jay hears a strangled noise behind him, and turns to see a red-faced Cole who is clearly trying not to pay attention to them.

He feels himself flush a brighter red. Right. They’re not alone. Well, at least  **_Zane_ ** didn’t see. That would’ve been much worse.

Kai turns his attention to the vampire. “Something wrong?” He asks innocently.  **_Too_ ** innocently.

“N- no. Noth- nothing’s wrong.” It’s an obvious lie, and Jay can’t help but feel annoyed. What’s with all the secrets?

“That’s what I thought.” The demon gives a smug smile. 

The young adult looks down at the floor. How did he forget that Cole was in the room? He was practically drooling over Kai, and the vampire was  **_right there_ ** , watching. 

His boyfriend comes closer, close enough that Jay can feel his heat as he stands behind him. “Is my little Bluejay shy?” He breathes, right in his ear.

The human practically  **_runs_ ** , unwilling to let himself be embarrassed any further. He’s just going to  **_nope_ ** out of there.

He heads right into the guest room and slams the door shut behind him, breathing heavily. He’s just…  **_not_ ** going to deal with that. At all. He can just pretend it never happened! 

Part of him wonders why he’s so resistant, but his brain is too messed up to even try to figure it out. He loves Kai, he really does, but- but-

But  **_something_ ** . Is it the knowledge that it was a love potion? Because that doesn’t really matter too much. Kai just needs to be loved, and Jay needed a little push to understand that- that’s all there is to it.

But still, something bothers him. What is it? How can he get rid of it? Why is he so confused by being in love? What even  **_is_ ** love? What-

He stops himself, taking a deep breath. Nope. He’s going to take a step back and force his brain to shut the fuck up.

There’s a knock on the door.

“Go away!” Jay yelps. Whoever it is, he doesn’t want to talk to them. He wants to be miserable with his thoughts.

“It’s Kai.” 

“Don’t care!” The human goes to lock the door, and silently curses when he realizes that there is no lock.

God damn it.

The door starts to creep open, and Jay pushes his full weight against it in a desperate attempt to keep it closed. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now!

Unfortunately, he’s not nearly as strong as the demon, and the door is quickly wedged open. “Bluejay, c’mon. Don’t be like this.” He steps into the room, and the sudden lack of opposing pressure on the door causes Jay to stumble as it slams shut.

The young adult brushes himself off before his boyfriend can come to help. “I’ll be however I want to be, thank you very much!”

Kai sighs. “So I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say voyeurism isn’t your thing.” It sounds like a joke, but Jay honestly isn’t sure.

“I don’t know what that is, and I don’t want to know.” He tells the demon.

“It’s when-“

“I said I don’t want to know!” Jay interrupts, clamping his hands over his ears. For some reason, Kai seems to find this amusing, and he gives a light chuckle.

“You’re adorable.”

“We’ve had this talk. I’m manly and intimidating.” The young adult snaps, only half-annoyed as he looks at the grin on his boyfriend’s face. His hands come down and fidget by his sides.

God damn it.

“Oh, of course.” The immortal nods dramatically. 

“Shut up.” Jay mumbles, looking away as his face heats up. And here he goes with the blushing again!

“I’m  **_agreeing_ ** with you!” Kai argues playfully.

A small smile finds its way onto his face. “Sure.” He agrees. The demon’s new cheerfulness is contagious, and Jay finds himself giving into it.

Something in the atmosphere changes, and it becomes almost…  **_heavy_ ** . Almost a…  **_seductive_ ** aura.

The immortal steps closer, right into his personal space. “You weren’t too comfortable with Cole around, but now that we’re alone…” 

Jay glances off to the side as his face burns brighter. After all the emotions he’s been through this morning, he really doesn’t want to… 

That and the screaming in the back of his mind tells him not to.

“I, uh, I’m not feeling up to that.” Jay explains softly.

“C’mon, we can be quick.” The demon promises in a quiet, seductive murmur. A wandering hand brushes against his upper thigh, sending shivers through him. 

“Kai, I- I really don’t want to- I- not right now, okay?  **_Later_ ** , I promise.” The human pleads. He’s not sure why he’s this desperate, but something in him refuses to give in to his boyfriend.

Kai hesitates a moment, clearly considering this. After a beat, he sighs. “Such a tease, Bluejay. Well, when we do fuck, I’ll just have to pound you that much harder.”

For some reason the idea of  _ ‘harder’ _ doesn’t sound too good. But he doesn’t protest. He can take a little roughness for his boyfriend, if it’ll make him happy.

So he just gives a shaky nod and a small smile, ignoring the background panic. If he’s being honest, he really doesn’t want to have  **_any_ ** sex in the near future. But once again, if it’ll make Kai happy… 

“Is something wrong?”

“No!” Jay lies quickly. “Everything’s fine! Perfectly fine! Nothing wrong at all!”  **_God_ ** , he’s a horrible liar. He knew he was bad, but this is just  **_ridiculous_ ** .

“If it’s something I said-“

“It’s not, honest! It’s just- my brain’s been a little bit of a mess lately.” The young adult gives a small, slightly panicked laugh. 

“Bluejay, you can talk to me.” The demon assures him. But Jay knows he can’t. He can’t be open with him, he’ll-

He’ll what? Why  **_can’t_ ** he be open with him? Why is he so scared of his own boyfriend? Kai  **_loves_ ** him, he can trust the immortal!

Can’t he?

“I’m so confused. My mind is a mess, and- and- and I don’t know what’s  **_wrong_ ** with me!” Jay looks up at his boyfriend, tears welling in his eyes. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. My- my brain won’t agree with itself!”

Kai’s eyes widen. He seems to be trying to process this. “I- that’s not- can, can you describe that in more detail for me?”

“I- I know you love me, and I- **_I love you too_ ** ! But, there’s a weird feeling, a small voice,  **_something_ ** that- that won’t let me relax. It- it’s scaring me.” Jay admits.

The demon looks almost confused, with a mix of shock. “If that’s what I think it is… no, that shouldn’t be possible.” He mutters to himself. Running a hand through his hair, he sighs, his eyes displaying his distress. 

There’s a pause.

“Ka- Kai?” Jay prompts.

The demon gives him a tense smile. “C’mon. We’re going to go fix this.”

And so his boyfriend leads him out of the room and through the mansion, until they eventually reach Zane’s lab. The Nindroid is reading a book, and Cole seems to be trying to turn invisible in the far corner.

“Jay, would you mind watching Cole for me? Maybe take him to the living room.” Kai suggests. “I need to talk to Zane.”

Somewhat hesitantly, Jay nods, and gestures for the vampire to follow him as he steps out of the lab. Cautiously, and repeatedly glancing at Zane, the undead follows.

Soon enough, they reach the living room. Jay makes his way over to the couch, sitting down- but Cole doesn’t follow. Well, he comes most of the way, but then sits on the floor in front of the furniture rather than on it.

Jay frowns, looking over his friend. “Is everything okay?”

The vampire gives him a small, tense smile. “Everything’s fine.” Even if Jay believed the tone- which he doesn’t- his eyes are a dead giveaway.

“You can sit on the couch.” The young adult offers. He knows that Kai’s mad at him, but sitting on the floor so much can’t be comfortable.

“I’m- I’m good, thanks.”

Jay hesitates, but decides to just let it go. “Alright.” He agrees. 

The two sit there for a few minutes, but then Cole pulls something out of his pocket. It takes the young adult a moment to recognize what it is, but then he realizes that it’s the phone Zane gave him in the dungeon.

The vampires glances at Jay nervously, like he’s expecting him to take it away. The young adult gives him a small smile to show that he’s not.

Cole looks relieved, and he quickly opens the phone, tapping something on the screen. A smile crosses his face, and Jay realizes that it’s the first one he’s seen since they’d killed Kai.

“What’re you doing?” The human prompts. It’s nice to see his friend happy. His boyfriend and Zane have been kind of mean to him lately, and it’s no wonder that he’s been so gloomy.

The vampire freezes, his eyes going wide with panic. “Uh.” He gives Jay a strained, nervous smile and clutches the phone tighter.

It’s then that Jay knows he’s trying to take down Kai.

“Cole…” He says slowly, narrowing his eyes. Why would he be doing this? Granted, he knows that the demon’s done some things- bad things- but he’s not doing them anymore! He’s good now!

… but is he really?

“I can explain?” The vampire offers weakly. It’s clear that he knows that he’s been caught, and even clearer that he doesn’t actually have an explanation that’ll make it better.

“He’s not evil anymore.” Jay doesn’t hesitate to tell him what he isn’t sure is true. “I know he’s hurt a lot of people- you in particular- but he’s doing better.”

Cole looks up at him pleadingly. “Jay, I know it’s hard, but a love potion is something you’re able to resist. You can fight back! You’re stronger than this, I know you are!”

The human blinks, drawing back a little. “Why would I want to?” He questions.

“Do you really want to live out your days like this? Unable to think for yourself, your sole purpose to please Kai? The Jay I know would be tearing out his hair at the mere  **_idea_ ** ! I know you can fight this.  **_Please_ ** , fight this.” The vampire begs.

The young adult hesitates. His brain screams and lights things on fire, destroying his ability to think properly. He feels torn, but after a few moments, it settles down, and he comes to a conclusion.

“I love Kai.” Jay says firmly. “And nothing can change that.”


	4. Jealousy, Phones, And Broken Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long story short, Kai has issues. But what else is new?

At his words, the vampire in front of him seems to die a little inside- which is odd because he’s already undead.

There’s a pause, Cole still staring at him with pain in his eyes. Despite the feeling of guilt they cause, Jay can’t look away.

“I’m not giving up on you, Jay.” The immortal refuses to break eye contact, his gaze pained but determined.

The human sighs. “Cole, please. There’s nothing you can do, and in all honesty? I don’t want your help.” He’s made up his mind. No matter what the vampire does, he can’t-

“What about your parents?”

Jay freezes. His parents. How could he have forgotten about them? They’re everything he’s been fighting for! The whole reason he’s even here! And now? They’re under the effects of Dark Matter, unable to think for themselves. 

Here he is, all oh-so-happy with his new life, and he completely forgot about them. Didn’t even think twice about leaving them to rot. 

“My- my parents?” He breathes.

“Yes! Your parents! You came here for them, right?” Cole leans forward. “You can still help them! There’s- I think there might be a way to reverse the effects of Dark Matter!”

“Reverse the effects of Dark Matter? Huh. You’ll have to tell me about that.” A familiar voice comments, stepping into the room. The Black and Blue Ninja turn to face the source.

Kai has a sharp smile, but he’s clearly  **_not_ ** happy. “I see you have a phone. I’m gonna need you to hand that over. I assume you were trying to contact Lloyd?”

Cole pales. “Uh, heh, listen, I-”

“I don’t want to hear it.” The demon makes his way over to them and holds out his hand for the device. “Give it.”

The vampire hesitates. He looks from the phone to the older immortal to the phone again. He seems to be debating something.

“ **_Now_ ** , Cole. Hand it over.”

Cole slams the phone on the ground, once, twice, three times. The Red and Blue Ninja stare as the vampire breaks the device, proceeding to then tear it open and slam the open mechanics of it into the floor. 

Before he can do any more damage, Kai grabs his wrist, wrenching the device from his grasp. Jay only needs to look at it for a second to see that it’s beyond repair.

“The  **_fuck_ ** was that?” The demon demands, his grip on Cole’s wrist tightening. Something  **_snaps_ ** loudly, and the vampire cries out in pain.

Jay reaches out to stop his boyfriend. “Kai-”

“ **_Don’t_ ** side with him.” The demon glares. “I swear you’ll regret it.” It’s enough to send a wave of fear through the young adult, and he quickly draws back.

“Don’t threaten him.” Cole snarls, desperately trying to free himself from Kai’s tight grip. “If you two are in a relationship- and even if you’re not- you should treat him with  **_respect_ ** .”

The older immortal doesn’t respond. “Zane!” He calls. “Come in here!” It’s slightly unnerving how he ignores it, but Jay does his best to brush it off. Kai wouldn’t  **_actually_ ** do anything to him.

The Nindroid steps into the room, a slightly confused expression crossing his face as he takes in the scene. “Is everything okay?”

“Cole has been…  **_misbehaving_ ** . Set something up for me.”

Jay’s not entirely sure what that means, but if the panicked noise Cole makes is any indication, it’s **_not_** a good thing.

Zane nods, a ghost of a smile on his face. He then leaves the room, leaving the three of them alone. 

Kai turns his attention back to the vampire. “What was on that phone?” He demands, rage sparkling in his eyes.

“You can’t make me tell you anything.” The younger immortal snarls, but the fear in his tone speaks louder than the words themselves.

“Someone’s awfully confident.” The demon notes. “I recommend you just give up now. It’ll hurt a lot less that way.”

Despite his better judgement, Jay speaks up again. “Kai-“

“Do **_not_** take his side!” His boyfriend yells, whipping to face the young adult. His grip on Cole’s wrist tightens, and the vampire cries out again. “It can't be him! You- you love **_me_**! You can’t choose him over me! You **_can’t_**!”

It’s then that it dawns on him. Kai’s upset about the phone, yes, but that’s not his main concern. He’s- he’s  **_jealous_ ** . He must be under the impression that Cole waswas trying to steal Jay from him.

_ ‘I just- I just wanted to be loved.’ _

That’s all he’s ever been trying to do. With Nya, with him. He just wants to be cared about. And from his point of view, it must look like the vampire is trying to take that from him.

“I’m not choosing him, and I  **_do_ ** love you. I just don’t want my friend to get hurt, that’s all. Kai, I’m not going to leave you. I love you.” Jay promises. 

The demon hesitates a beat, but then releases Cole’s wrist, which the younger immortal immediately clutches to his chest, clearly in intense pain.

“You- you like me more?” He sounds desperate, practically  **_begging_ ** for his approval. It’s heartbreaking, how he hungers for any kind of affection.

“I love  **_you_ ** , not him.” The human confirms with a sad smile. God, it’s  **_painful_ ** to see the sheer  **_need_ ** on his face, how much he yearns for someone to care about him.

He barely has time to blink before he’s suddenly wrapped in a tight hug. “Love you, love you so much.” The demon murmurs, sounding near tears.

Jay brings his arms around his boyfriend, squeezing him back. “Love you too.” Who hurt him so much? Who deprived him of love, who made him this  **_desperate_ ** for the slightest bit of affection?

If he ever finds out, that person is gonna get one Hell of an ass-kicking.

… y’know, assuming they're not strong enough to kick his.

* * *

It took some convincing, but Jay managed to get Kai to agree not to do…  **_whatever he was going to do_ ** to Cole.

The demon is currently curled up on the couch beside him, his head in the young adult’s lap as Jay gently pets his spiky hair.

He’d never have thought that he’d describe  **_Kai_ ** , the demon overlord, as  _ ‘adorable’ _ , but, well, here he is, an adorable demon in his lap.

Zane had been told of the change of arrangements, but he didn’t seem too happy about it. Still, he hasn’t reappeared, meaning that Cole is still in the room, clutching his wrist to his chest. By this time, the gash on his cheek has mostly faded, but it’s still visible. And from what Jay has been able to tell, that wrist might actually be broken.

But he’s trying not to focus on the vampire. He’s finding it somewhat embarrassing to be cuddling with his boyfriend in front of Cole, though he’s not entirely sure why that is.

“Bluejay?” Kai murmurs softly, peeking up at Jay with half-lidded eyes. The human realizes that he got caught up in his thoughts and stopped petting the demon’s hair, and so he quickly resumes what he was doing.

“Everything okay?” The immortal questions, a note of concern in his tone.

Jay forces a smile. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” He’s honestly not sure if that’s a lie or not. He’s feeling better about loving Kai, yes, but rather than an angry feeling in the back of his mind, it’s almost…  **_guilty_ ** . And he knows exactly why that is.

His parents.

Cole had said something about reversing the effects of Dark Matter. Maybe it would be possible to do that for them- with Kai’s permission, of course.

But how would he even bring that up?  _ ‘Hey Kai, can I un-evilify my parents even though you’ve spent over a decade making sure everyone would get infected?’ _

Yeah, that’d go over  **_real_ ** well.

The demon frowns, but doesn’t argue. Jay glances over to Cole, but the vampire hasn’t moved from his position, he just sits there with a pained expression while he holds his wrist.

“When is later?” Kai suddenly asks.

The young adult frowns. “Huh?” He tries to think back. Was there something he said before about  _ ‘later’ _ ? What-

_ ‘ “Kai, I- I really don’t want- I- not right now, okay?  _ **Later** _ , I promise.” ‘ _

Oh,  **_shit_ ** .

Jay feels his face flush red, and he glances off to the side. “Uh. Well- well, it’s not right now.” He tries.

“Okay…” His boyfriend sighs. “But do you have an **_actual_** time in mind? Or do you just plan on teasing me?”

The human hesitates. He doesn’t have a time in mind, and he doesn’t want to give Kai a fixed time where he can’t say no anymore.

“I- I, um, I don’t-“ Jay glances around the room, only to be startled when he sees Cole staring right at him, looking slightly horrified.

And why the  **_fuck_ ** does he look like that? Jay is allowed to sleep with his boyfriend, thank you very much! Cole doesn’t get to disapprove of what he does behind closed doors- it’s none of his damn business!

It’s solely because of that expression on his face that he says it. Staring directly into the vampire’s eyes, he responds to Kai’s question.

“In an hour or two.” He promises.

The demon gives him a soft smile that just about melts him. “Anything you wanna do until then?” 

He’s not sure why he says it. It just clicked into his head and made it past his non-existent verbal filter. 

“You broke Cole’s wrist- someone should give him medical attention.”

Yep, he just said that. He’s upset with the vampire for thinking he has any right to interfere with his love-life, yes, but he doesn’t want to see him hurt. But still, there had to be a better way to say that.

Kai blinks, clearly surprised. “Uh. Right. Yeah, I’ll call Zane.” He agrees, sounding slightly reluctant. 

Zane? Zane, the one who hates him and hurt him for no reason? Yes, he’s definitely a go-to choice. He’s totally **_the_** **_most_** **_ideal_** **_person_** for the job.

… he should probably dial back the sarcasm.

But externally, he just smiles. And after a moment of deliberation, he places a light kiss on Kai’s forehead. “Thank you.”

The demon’s face tinges red, and he glances away to avoid eye contact. Which probably shouldn’t be as cute as it is.

“I- yeah.” He gets out, pulling out a comm and placing it on his ear. Huh. When had he taken that off? “Hey, Zane, could you- could you come give Cole some medical attention? I, uh, I think I broke his wrist.” He then glances at Jay, almost as though he’s looking for approval.

The young adult gives it to him with a smile and an encouraging nod.

“Zane- Zane no.  **_Actual_ ** medical attention, please. I don’t want him more injured than when you started.” 

Jay goes back to petting Kai’s hair. Even with the spikes, it’s surprisingly soft, and the human smiles at the way it makes his boyfriend almost melts into him.

“Thanks. See you in a few.” And with that, the demon takes out the comm and puts it back in his pocket.

The young adult continues his gentle ministrations, enjoying the way the oh-so powerful demon overlord is practically putty in his hands.

He’s not sure how long it’s been by the time Zane walks in, but it doesn’t seem to be very long. The moment he does, Kai sits up, quickly ruffling his hair and trying to put on a serious, no-nonsense expression.

The Nindroid sits down cross-legged beside Cole, opening what looks like a highly advanced first-aid kit. He grabs the vampire’s injured arm and pulls it out towards him. The immortal seems to be fighting back some kind of pained reaction, but Zane ignores it. He begins to treat the broken bone, and while he is, Kai gets to his feet.

The demon tugs at his sleeve, trying to get him to stand as well. So Jay does, and lets himself be led through the mansion. After a few minutes, they end up at the library. 

“I thought you might like it here.” Kai gives him a soft smile. “And I figured maybe we could read something together?” It turns into a question, and Jay once again marvels at how adorable his boyfriend can be.

The young adult smiles. “That sounds fun.” He agrees, standing on his tip-toes in order to ruffle his hair. 

Kai flushes red again, and he glances off to the side, clearing his throat. 

Jay can’t fight back his grin at the reaction. God, how’d he get so lucky? 

The back of his mind dryly reminds him that he’s under the effects of a love potion and that he probably wouldn’t normally feel this way.

Jay tells the voice to shut the fuck up and let him be happy.

Because it doesn’t matter if he’s mind controlled into it. He loves his boyfriend, and that’s all there is to it.

They turn and step into the library, and the young adult is struck by a sudden thought.

Is Nya still in here?


	5. Bad Kai! Bad!

Jay was unable to convince Kai that they should read Starfarer, so instead they wind up with a novel about parallel worlds and talking animals. They sit curled up together on a small couch, the young adult reading it to his boyfriend. Luckily, Nya has yet to make an appearance, because Jay’s not sure if the demon could handle another confrontation.

“ _ ‘Peter did not feel very brave; indeed, he felt he was going to be sick. But that-‘ _ “Jay is cut of by his boyfriend snuggling into him more, and a small smile crosses his face. 

But before he gets the chance to continue, the door to the library is thrown open, and the two of them glance at each other for a moment before getting up to investigate. 

Zane stands there, dragging an unconscious and bleeding Cole behind him. He walks up to the Red and Blue Ninja, dropping the vampire once he reaches them.

“He attempted to contact Lloyd a total of four times since the two of you left. I did not wish to harm him, but he was being…  **_difficult_ ** .” The Nindroid explains.

_ ‘I did not wish to harm him…’ _ ?  **_Seriously_ ** ? Of course he wanted to hurt Cole, he’s been looking for excuses to do that all day!

Kai attempts to fix his hair, but ends up just making it more of a mess. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.” He then turns to Jay. “Is it okay if I leave you alone to go deal with this?”

The young adult rolls his eyes. “I don’t need to be babysat.” He points out. 

His boyfriend chuckles. “That’s fair. I’ll see you later, Bluejay.” He grabs Cole and drags him through the library, followed by Zane. They exit, and the door swings shut behind them.

Jay stands there a moment, pondering what he should do. Whatever they’re going to do to Cole probably isn’t going to be nice, but he can’t really do much about it.

He walks around the library, lost in thought. And then he runs into the person he completely forgot was in here.

Nya.

The angel sits on a couch, flipping through a book. Her face and eyes are still red from crying, and surprisingly, she hasn’t noticed Jay yet.

The young adult debates just backing out of the area, but then he’s struck with memories of before, of the way she hurt Kai.

And so, anger burning in his chest, he speaks up, a forced smile on his face.

“Hey there, Nya. I don’t think we really got to talk before.”

Nya starts, dropping her book as her head whips to face him. The panic on her face fades as she most likely remembers who he is.

“Jay, right?” She speaks softly, carefully. She looks almost like a startled animal, ready to flee at any moment.

The human nods his confirmation. “Yep. Would you mind if I sit down?” He gestures at the space beside her.

Nya scooches to the side in answer, giving him room to sit. Still with that fake smile, he takes the seat. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” She nods. “Was there something specific you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes, actually. I want to talk about your brother.”

Nya stiffens, and it’s easy to see the stress that she holds. “Oh?” Even her voice is strained. But Jay pays it no notice, he just makes continuous eye contact with that fake smile.

“He’s not evil.” The young adult begins. “And I don’t like the way you were treating him. He might be a demon, but he still has feelings.”

The angel blinks, clearly confused. “I- I’m not purposefully being mean. It’s- he’s not the man I used to know. He’s not the same.”

“People change.” Jay counters. “He’s still your brother. Do you know how much he sacrificed for you? Do you even care? It’s **_because_** **_of_** **_you_** that he’s like this. He gave up everything just so he could see you again, and what do you do? You yell at him. You tell him that you don’t consider him family anymore. Do you know how much you’ve hurt him? He cried. He was **_crying_** , Nya. And it’s your fault.”

Her confusion makes way for shock, borderline outrage. “I- listen, Jay, you’re under the effects of a love potion. You can’t see him for what he’s become. Do you know how many people he’s killed? I didn’t until about five minutes ago. He’s- sure, being a demon doesn’t inherently make someone evil. But his actions as a demon definitely do. And he’s not- he’s- Jay, he’s  **_evil_ ** .”

“He’s misguided.” The young adult corrects. How can his own sister not see that? She’s willing to just write him off as evil without even  **_trying_ ** to see his side. “I don’t understand why he went through so much to bring someone like  **_you_ ** back.” He snarls, that boiling rage burning through his veins. 

But to his surprise, Nya doesn’t take offense. She just gives him a small, sad smile. “He shouldn’t have.” She agrees. “I was better off dead.” And with that, she gets up and walks away, out of the library, leaving the young adult alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Jay sits on the seat for a good thirty minutes, thinking. He’s annoyed at Nya, yeah, but some of what she was saying makes sense.

Love blinds people. Is it possible that he’s not thinking clearly enough to know Kai?

The thought occupies his mind. He knows he’s under the effects of a love potion, but that wouldn’t make him  **_too_ ** different in his opinions toward Kai… right?

He can’t help but remember how scared he used to be. How much fear flooded him at the mere idea of the demon. 

Is that how he’s  **_supposed_ ** to feel? If so, he likes this a lot better… 

Jay gets up from the seat and walks out of the library, planning on wandering aimlessly around the mansion.

And so he does. He spends a good hour just wandering around. At one point, he stops for a snack in the kitchen, repeatedly looking over his shoulder for Zane. Luckily, the Nindroid doesn’t show up.

As he’s walking near the stairs, he hears an ear-splitting shriek. His body goes tense, and he freezes in place. Those stairs lead to the dungeon.

He runs down the stairs, but when he reaches the bottom, he freezes once more, pure horror flooding his system as he takes in the scene in front of him.

Cole is covered in horrible bloody gashes, bruises, burns, and marks that look scarily similar to the one the garlic had left earlier. The vampire lays on the floor, and Jay meets his eyes for less than a second before they roll back in his head, leaving him unconscious.

Zane and Kai stand near him, and the demon glances back. He does a double take when he sees Jay, his eyes widening. “Bluejay!” He greets, clearly nervous. “I, uh, I wasn’t expecting you.”

And it’s in that moment, looking at a broken and barely breathing Cole, that he feels something in the back of his mind  **_snap_ ** .

What the ever loving  **_fuck_ ** is wrong with Kai?! He feels his disgust for the demon hit him full force, followed by a wave of relief. 

_ ‘ “Jay, I know it’s hard, but a love potion is something you’re able to resist.” ‘ _

Something he’s able to resist. Something he can fight. Something he can defeat.

Something he can free himself from.

“Is- is everything okay?” His boyfriend prompts nervously, glancing between the vampire and the human.

Jay forces himself to stay relaxed. If Kai finds out he’s not under the effects of the love potion anymore, god knows what he’ll do. “Yeah. But, uh, what are you doing to Cole?”

“We’re, uh, well… That’s not important.” Kai glances off to the side with a nervous chuckle. “You- you shouldn’t worry about it.”

The young adult nods slowly. He just has to pretend. He has to keep up some kind of facade until he can talk to Cole in private and come up with a plan. 

Though it doesn’t look like the vampire will be up for anything like that anytime soon… 

“Okay.” He agrees. “I- I guess I’ll see you later?” Jay starts to back towards the stairs. Maybe he could talk to Nya again. She knows that Kai’s evil. Yeah, he’ll go talk to her! Just- anything to get him out of here.

Kai quickly nods. “Uh, yeah! Yeah, I’ll- I’ll see you later.”

And so, the two of them watching each other carefully, Jay slowly makes his way out. As soon as he’s certain he’s out of both sight and earshot, he breaks into a run. He needs to find Nya,  **_now_ ** .

He searches every room he can find, desperately trying to locate the angel. Where could she have gone? She has to be around here  **_somewhere_ ** .

Eventually, he runs into her- literally. He quickly turns a corner and  **_slams_ ** into Nya, sending both of them to the floor. 

“Jay?” The angel questions, getting to her feet. The young adult scrambles to do the same, and its clear in her expression that she can see the horror in his.

The human glances around, making sure that they’re alone before he speaks up, trying to get the words out as quickly as possible. “I-overcame-the-love-potion-Kai’s-torturing-Cole-I’m-pretending-I’m-still-under-its-effects-but-I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing-please-help.”

Nya’s eyes widen. “Wha- Okay, slow down. What’s going on?”

Jay takes a deep breath, forcing himself to talk  **_slow_ ** . “I’m no longer under the effects of the love potion, but I’m pretending I am. Cole tried to contact Lloyd but now Kai’s torturing him. I don’t know what I’m doing and I need help.” A sudden thought strikes him. “I, uh, I’ve pretended I was in love with Kai when I really wasn’t before, but that… didn’t end well.” 

Ha.  _ ‘ “... didn’t end well.” ’ _ Understatement of the century.

The angel blinks. “Okay. Okay, um, lets start at the beginning and work our way up from there. Who’s Lloyd?”

“The Green Ninja.” Jay explains. “The one destined to defeat Kai. He doesn’t have his elemental power anymore, and I think we might have already lost, but there’s still a chance we can pull…  **_something_ ** off.”

Nya frowns. “The Green Ninja?” She questions. “I can’t say I’ve heard of him.”

Oh, duh! She’s been dead, it’s likely that she’s never heard of the prophecy. 

“Alright, uh, there’s a prophecy.” Jay explains. “It goes,

‘When the world is held by the reign of the mighty, 

When Ninjago is held under tyranny,

When the one of Hell has made his way to the throne,

The world is not alone.

One will rise above the rest.

The Green Ninja, at his best

Will greet the hell-spawn in a fight,

And with luck on our side, we will return to light.

Be wary of the one wreathed in shadow,

For he too will not be easy to overthrow.

The one of steel stands by their side, 

And he is not one from which you can hide.

The Green Ninja has but one chance

And only in one circumstance 

Will the hellspawn fall

And that is if the lone human rises to the call.’ ”

Nya frowns. “And we’re sure that Kai is ‘the one of Hell’?” She questions.

It hits him like a freight train. She’s right. It never says that it’s Kai. It just says, ‘the one of Hell’. And Kai isn’t the only demon they’ve dealt with lately… 

“It’s the Overlord.” Jay breathes. “The Overlord is ‘the one of Hell’. We haven’t fought him yet. And that means… “

The two of them speak in unison, a smile on both of their faces. “We still have a chance.”


	6. In Which Zane Is Weirder Than Usual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the pause between updates on everything, I've been working on a new AU.

They wait anxiously for Kai or Zane to appear, for something to happen, for some evidence that Cole is okay.

Each minute that ticks by slowly adds to Jay’s stress. They- they won’t actually  **_kill_ ** Cole… right? No, they wouldn’t. Kai said he wouldn’t.

But why should he trust that the demon will keep his word? He’s never broken it before, sure, but there’s no reason that encourages him to actually keep it.

About an hour and a half after the young adult had last seen the vampire, Zane walks into the room. The young adult waits anxiously for a moment when he can question about Cole’s wellbeing. But much to his surprise, the first thing the Nindroid does is walk up to him. “You are no longer under the effects of the love potion.” He comments.

The human freezes. “What are you talking about?” He gives a nervous chuckle. “I- what? I don’t know what you mean.”

Real smooth, Walker. Real smooth.

Nya jumps in. “He just finished giving me a lecture on how badly I’ve been treating Kai.” She rolls her eyes. In a pretty good impression of the young adult, she adds, “ _ ‘He’s not evil, he’s just misguided.’ _ ”

… Jay didn’t ever say that  **_specifically_ ** , but that’s kind of the gist of what he said before. He fights back a wince at that. God, he was really out of it.

Zane arches an eyebrow. “I am capable of analyzing your micro-expressions.” He reminds them. “And it is quite easy to see your lie.”

The young adult desperately tries to think of something,  **_anything_ ** , that he could use to bluff his way out of this mess. What’ll Kai do when he finds out? Well, he’ll probably just give him another one, but only god knows if Jay’ll be able to get out of it a second time… 

“It is good that you have removed the potion from your system. It was beginning to grow tiresome.”

Wait- what?

“Kai will not hear of this turn of events from me. But if you wish to see Cole again in one piece, I recommend you take the time to intervene.” A ghost of a smile crosses Zane’s face. “Though you did not hear this from me.”

Before either of them have time to think up a response, the Nindroid leaves the room, leaving them alone.

What the  **_fuck_ ** just happened?

It takes a few seconds for everything Zane had said to register, but once it does, Jay jumps to his feet, sprinting down the halls on his way to the dungeon. 

He slows down once he reaches the top of the stairs, taking a few deep breaths. He needs to look put together, not like he’s so desperate for the vampire to be safe. If he does, Kai’ll most likely start getting  **_jealous_ ** , and then everything’ll go downhill from there.

So he takes a minute to compose himself before heading down to the dungeon. He needs to find some way to make the demon want to leave Cole alive and hopefully not permanently crippled.

Nothing could prepare him for the scene he walks in on.

Cole is covered in huge, bloody injuries that cover his entire body. Judging from the black eyes and swollen lips, he’s been hit in the face numerous times. His skin is dotted with bruises, most notably around his wrists, which he’s been chained up by. The burns that cover him are only **_slightly_** less damaging than Lloyd’s, and in the few places that aren’t covered in one of those injuries have the red, blotchy look that comes from garlic. But none of that is what startles him most.

The vampire is laughing. Here he is, quite obviously barely hanging on to consciousness and life itself, and he’s  **_laughing_ ** .

What the fuck.

Kai growls, his grip on his dagger tightening. “Shut- shut up.” He snarls quietly. 

But Cole just keeps laughing. It takes a while, but finally, he catches his breath. “Do whatever you want to me. It doesn’t make a difference.”

“ **_SHUT UP_ ** !” Kai yells, lifting his dagger in a move to stab the vampire once more. And  **_that_ ** is when Jay realizes he needs to intervene. 

“Kai?” He speaks just loud enough to catch their attention. “What- what’s going on?” He makes sure to speak calmly with only a hint of concern. The demon can’t know what’s going on inside his head.

The older immortal lowers the dagger and turns to face him, surprise, confusion and slight panic covering his features. “Jay! I- I thought you- I thought you were going to go do something else?”

The young adult struggles to figure out what he should say. “I was. But I thought maybe-” He hesitates, trying to think of something he could say that might make the demon want to leave the vampire alone. “-I thought we could do something together? Whatever Cole did, can’t you leave him alone for a little while? I- I know it hasn’t been very long, but… I kinda miss you.”

There. That’s gotta do something. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

Cole gives him a confused look, his head tilting ever so slightly. Kai pauses, clearly considering this. “I, uh… I’m a little busy right now.” The demon winces.

“So Cole is more important than our relationship?” Jay crosses his arms with a pout. 

“Wha-  **_No_ ** ! No, that’s not what I’m saying at all!” Kai rushes to reassure him. “I- It’s just that I- I, uh…  **_well_ ** . I mean, I guess I can leave him for a little while…” The demon glances back at the vampire, clearly worried.

“What did he even do?” The young adult questions. Maybe he can bullshit an excuse for him… 

“He tried to contact Lloyd and find a way to defeat me.” Kai explains, shooting the vampire a dirty look. 

Jay quickly does his best to fake outrage. That’s how he would have reacted before, right? “ **_Cole_ ** !” He yells disapprovingly, glaring at the vampire. “We’ve  **_talked_ ** about this.”

The vampire sighs. “Yeah, well, maybe if he could stop being evil, then I wouldn’t  **_have_ ** to do things like this.”

“I’m not evil!” Kai protests. Cole arches an eyebrow, and the demon darkens even more. “I’m not!” He insists.

“He’s not.” Jay agrees firmly. And yeah, the demon is actually  **_really_ ** evil, but he can’t let him know that he thinks that.

Kai glares at the vampire. “I  **_will_ ** be coming back.” He snarls. Well, hopefully Nya can find some way to rescue the vampire before then.

“C’mon.” Jay tugs on Kai’s sleeve. “Cuddles and Starfarer.” It’s not a question. Because if the young adult leaves what they do open ended, the demon is likely to bring things in a very unwelcome direction… 

The spiky-haired immortal sets down the dagger and gives Cole one last glare before leading the human out of the room.

Like Jay had requested, Kai takes them to the living room. “I don’t know if we have any of the Starfarer movies.” He admits. 

“You’ve got to have  **_something_ ** sci-fi.” The young adult insists. “Where do you keep them?”

The demon grabs the remote and turns on the TV. “Online.” He says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Do you still use disks?” He sounds almost incredulous as he asks it.

“... sometimes.” Jay admits, fighting back the pang he feels thinking of his parents and the movies they used to watch together. They couldn’t usually afford too many, so they’d watch the same ones over and over. 

**_God_ ** , he misses them. 

“Bluejay? Is everything alright?” Kai questions. The concern in his voice is almost insulting. Of course he’s not okay! Everything he’s ever known has been stripped from him and he’s forced to be in a relationship with an evil demon who corrupted everyone in Ninjago! 

But the human just gives a small smile. “Everything’s fine, it’s just- could, could we cuddle?” Hopefully the nervousness in his voice is translated to him being shy rather than his desire to change the subject.

The demon lights up. “Yeah, of course.” He sits on the couch and gestures to the spot beside him. Jay quickly takes a seat and curls up in his boyfriend’s arms, forcing his body not to tense up. As long as Kai thinks he wants this, it’ll be fine.

The young adult isn’t paying attention to the TV as the demon scrolls through his movies. The immortal will find something- and even if Jay doesn’t like it, it’s not like he’ll be concentrating on it.

All of his focus is on keeping himself calm and relaxed, trying not to think about how close he is to Kai and how easy it would be for the demon to do whatever he wants to him… and Jay wouldn’t even be able to protest.

But  **_god_ ** , is he thinking about it. He just can’t draw his mind away.

Hmm. Maybe he  **_should_ ** focus on the movie. That’d be a good distraction. 

“So, uh… it’s been over an hour.” Kai comments, sounding somewhat nervous. What? Over an hour since when? What is he- 

Oh.  **_That_ ** .

“In a little bit.” Jay promises. He  **_really_ ** wants to take it back, but it’s too late now. He doesn’t want to do anything that could hint at the fact that he’s no longer under the affects of the love potion. Meaning- meaning that he’s going to have to- he’s-

Well, this situation just got a  **_lot_ ** worse.

Kai nods, seeming satisfied with this answer. He goes back to the TV. “Hmm… is this one Starfarer?” He questions.

Jay glances at the screen. “I- yeah.” He confirms. “That’s the new one.” He saw it in the theater, just a few weeks before the demon showed up and turned his life upside down.

“Cool.” The immortal clicks on it and sets the remote down, snuggling closer to his boyfriend, who does his best to ignore the spike of fear at the proximity. It- it’ll be fine.

… right?

* * *

They’re about a third of the way through the movie when Zane walks into the room. Kai immediately sits up straighter and pauses it, turning to look at the Nindroid. “Is something up?”

“Nya wishes to speak with you.” The White Ninja informs. “She is waiting in the library. I am not sure what her intentions are, but I recommend you stay on guard.”

Kai lights up. “She- she wants to talk? I- I’ll go see her!” He gives Jay a quick forehead kiss as a goodbye before darting out of the room. 

Zane sighs, turning his attention to the young adult. “She is giving you this opportunity so you can attempt to rescue Cole.” He sounds somewhat reluctant, as though he doesn’t particularly want to share this information.

Jay blinks, slightly confused. If Zane hates the vampire, why would he want to help him? Something here isn’t quite adding up, but the human decides not to question it. Who knows when he’ll get this chance again?

“Thanks.” He gives the Nindroid a quick smile before dashing off to the dungeon. When he enters, Cole is just how he left him, horribly injured and hanging by his wrists. The vampire groggily blinks a few times when he walks in.

“Jay?” He mumbles weakly, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. It’s clear that his unattended wounds have grown worse, and Jay winces at the sight.

“I’m here to rescue you.” The young adult explains, making his way over to the Black Ninja. But he pauses when a sudden realization strikes him.

How on Ninjago is he going to get the chains off?

Before he has time to start freaking out, he hears footsteps from behind him, and he whips around to see Zane holding a ring of keys.

“These may be useful.” He arches an eyebrow with a smug smile before tossing them over. Stumbling, Jay just barely manages to catch them.

“Uh… thanks.” He feels himself flush red in embarrassment. Maybe he should’ve thought this rescue through more… 

He quickly turns and unshackles Cole. But as soon as the chains stop supporting him, he crumples to the ground with a loud groan at the impact. Jay winces at it, silently berating himself for not stopping to think anything through.

Rather than voice his regret aloud, he crouches down beside the vampire. “Are you okay?” He questions. As soon as the words leave his mouth, he mentally smacks himself. Of course he’s not okay! He just got fucking tortured!

But much to his surprise, Cole nods. “M’fine.” Placing his hands firmly against the ground, he struggles to lift himself up to his knees. Jay watches as the vampire pulls himself the rest of the way up- and then immediately falls back down.

“Ow.” He grumbles, but he starts to try to do it a second time.

“Maybe- maybe you should stay down.” The young adult offers weakly, knowing full well that he’s going to be ignored. 

And ignored he is, the vampire continuing to try to haul himself up. “M’fine.” He insists, this time with more force. But he only makes it to his knees before collapsing.

With a reluctant sigh, Zane comes over and throws Cole over his shoulder. “We do not have forever.” And with that, he turns and walks out.

Jay hesitates a moment before following. Today has been so weird.

_ ‘Today’ _ , he says, like everything that's happened recently hasn’t been batshit crazy.

Zane takes them to a place that seems unfamiliar at first, until he suddenly recognizes it as the medbay where he recovered from over-extending his powers.

Cole is set down on the bed, and the Nindroid starts gathering weird medical tools that Jay couldn’t name with a gun to his head.

“I will take care of him. You may go.” The White Ninja dismisses him.

The young adult pauses, concerned. Is it really safe to leave the two of them alone? Zane-

Zane helped Jay rescue him. It’ll be fine to leave them alone… right? It will. It has to be. Jay can’t afford to micro manage. He needs to get back to the living room before Kai comes back.

And so, with reluctance, he bids the Black and White Ninja goodbye before heading back to the game room. Maybe if he’s lucky, he can work out some way to fix this whole mess.

But one step at a time. As of right now, he just needs to get through the day- hopefully without any more bad things happening.

… and he probably just jinxed it. Great.


	7. In Which EVERYONE Is Weird

Jay makes it back to the living room **_just_ ** as Kai walks in. Without even hesitating, the demon walks right up to him and grabs him bridal style before walking down the halls.

… uh. Okay?

The young adult takes a second to try and figure out what’s going on. Kai looks to be some mix of sad and annoyed, meaning that Nya probably didn’t just give in to his every request. Good for her, but what does that mean for Jay?

He probably shouldn’t be as surprised as he is when the demon goes to the guest bedroom- which he supposes is their bedroom now, seeing as Kai’s got destroyed.

The door clicks shut behind them, and the young adult does his best to calm his racing heart. Is he- is this the part where-

The demon sets him down on the bed before flopping down beside him with a loud groan. “I don’t know what I’m doing **_wrong_ ** !” He complains. “I said I was sorry! I **_hate_ ** apologizing!” He says it as though that should magically fix the problem.

… he doesn’t really think that’s how an apology works, does he?

“She’s probably just a little stunned by everything that’s happened.” Jay offers. “I mean, how would you feel in her position?”

Kai pauses, considering this. “I guess I can understand her being upset.” He admits slowly, clearly reluctant. 

Did he- did he just actually listen and consider someone else’s point of view? Because it kind of sounded like he did. But that doesn’t make any sense! Kai never listens to other people’s opinions.

The demon turns on his side and pulls the young adult close to him. “I- fuck, I-” He hesitates a moment, clearly trying to be careful about his next words. Finally, he settles on, “You deserve better. And I’m- I’m sorry for what I’ve put you through.” The words seem to almost physically pain him.

Jay blinks. Once. Twice. How would love potion-ified Jay respond to that? Why would Kai even say that? Is he **_actually_ ** sorry? Why would he be?

“Sorry for what?” The young adult frowns, feigning confusion. 

“I- don’t worry about it.” The immortal glances off to the side. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He sounds actually pained by this, like he actually wishes he could properly apologize.

… okay? This is just getting **_weird_ **. 

They lay there in silence for a while, the demon holding him close. Jay’s not sure how much time has gone by, but it feels like it’s been eons.

“I love you.” Kai murmurs softly, pulling him even closer. A wandering hand trails down his body, and the young adult takes slow, deep breaths to prevent himself from flinching or running away at the very unwelcome contact.

“Love you too.” He forces the words out, forces them to sound believable, forces himself to pretend, to pretend to want this, to pretend to **_need_ ** this.

But much to his surprise, the demon doesn’t keep going. He just presses a light kiss to Jay’s forehead before getting to his feet. Fighting back a wave of confusion, the young adult sits up.

“Is everything okay?” He asks, and then immediately regrets it. Why is he questioning his good luck?! He should’ve just let it go!

Kai’s smile is forced. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.” He lies. **_Wow_ ** , he’s a bad liar. Jay thought **_he_ ** was bad, but the demon is on a whole other level of bad-ness. 

Is bad-ness a word? Screw it, now it is.

But this time, the young adult lets it go. He’s not even going to begin to **_try_ ** to unravel the mess that is Kai.

“I’m gonna go check on a few things. I’ll see you later, Bluejay.” The smile he revives is bittersweet, but Jay doesn’t question it as the demon walks out of the room.

He waits a few moments before getting up. If Kai’s not watching him, he can go check up on Cole!

So he makes his way through the mansion to the medical wing, but much to his surprise, there’s one more person than he was expecting.

Cole is still on the bed, though he looks significantly better than before. Zane stands beside on the right side of the bed, but on the left, there’s a different familiar face.

Lloyd.

The heavily burned angel looks over as he walks in. “Jay! I got worried when Kai dragged you off, it’s good to see that you’re oka-“

“What happened to Morro?” The young adult interjects. It’s rude, sure, but he can’t help the wave of curiosity, though a sinking feeling tells him that he already knows.

Lloyd’s smile falters. “He, uh… he didn’t make it.” He admits, glancing off to the side as he avoids eye contact.

There’s a heavy pause as Jay tries to figure out what he should say. It’s clear that the two of them hadn’t gotten along, but-

“So Zane tells me that you’re no longer under the effects of the love potion.” The vampire’s hopeful expression hits him right in the heart. How could he have been so blind as to let Cole get hurt?

He nods and gives the Black Ninja a small smile. “Yeah. Sorry for how I was act-”

“No! You don’t have to apologize for being manipulated.” The vampire assures him. “It’s Kai’s fault for giving it to you.”

Zane sighs and attempts to redirect the focus of the conversation.“As I was saying before, it may be possible to do something similar with the demon.” 

“Similar to what?” The human questions. Consider his attention diverted.

“They want to steal Kai’s fire.” The vampire explains. “Zane thinks there’s a way that we could take his element from him and use it for ourselves.”

Wait- what? They want to take his powers? Zane had said that he had done it to Lloyd, yeah, but why would the White Ninja help them do it to Kai? 

“I don’t **_think_ ** , I **_know_ **.” The Nindroid corrects. “It worked on Lloyd, did it not?”

“What do we need to pull it off?” The angel prompts. “Whatever it is, I’ll get it.” He sounds confident, even though he no longer has his powers.

“Crystals from Chen’s Island and some way to ensure he does not escape during the process.” Zane tells him. 

Lloyd frowns. “Hmm. Well, I don’t think there’s much I can do about the second one, but if you can tell me where the island is and how to get to it, I can get the crystals.”

“Cole and I will take care of the latter.” Zane informs them, leading to a slightly confused and surprised Cole. But the Nindroid presses on. “I will give you a GPS with the coordinates plugged in. The only way to get there is by boat or dragon, and seeing as you have lost your powers, I recommend you find some form of sea travel.”

“I don’t suppose there’s any way for me to get my element back?” Despite the sorrowful words, there’s a slight tinge of hope to them. 

“Unfortunately, no. It now belongs to the Overlord.”

“I figured.” The angel sighs. “Are you sure I can’t just fly? I have wings, you know.” Said wings flair out a little as Lloyd emphasizes his point.

Zane tilts his head. “I had not previously considered this. It depends on the maximum distance you can fly before you must take a rest, given that the island is approximately 12.342 kilometers off of the mainland.”

Lloyd nods as though he completely understands, which is then betrayed by his next question. “How far is that in miles?”

The Nindroid sighs. “It is 6.664 nautical miles.” He informs them, which judging from the others' expressions, only confused them more- Jay included. What the heck is a nautical mile?

Lloyd blinks. “Okaaay.” He says slowly. “How far in regular miles?”

Zane seems somewhat exasperated, as though he can’t believe how stupid they are because they don’t know all the **_fancy_** **_terms_** that only a walking computer could memorize. “7.668.” He explains.

“So seven and a half.”

“That would be correct.” The Nindroid pauses a moment before adding, “Are you sure you are not human? You certainly act as though you are.”

Lloyd freezes. “Uh. I’m- I’m **_not_ ** human.” He gets out nervously, wings twitching as he looks off to the side.

Cole and Jay exchange a glance. If he’s an angel, why is he acting so defensive over being asked if he’s human? He doesn’t seem to have any particular problem with the species, and he’s certainly not one of them, so why? Why so on edge?

Zane arches an eyebrow, but Lloyd quickly continues. “I can only fly about six miles before I need to take a rest, so I guess I will need a boat.”

The Nindroid nods. “The best starting point would be at Ninjago City Docks. The-”

“Hello?” Kai calls from the hallway. “Guys?” Oh, no. From how loud he is, it sounds like he’s **_just_ ** outside the medical ward.

Everyone in the room tenses up- except for Zane. The guy rarely shows emotion, which is actually kind of concerning. Does he not have emotions, or is he just really good at hiding them?

Footsteps echo as they come closer, and Lloyd quietly makes his way towards the window- until he realizes that it’s locked, and unlocking it would likely be quite loud.

_I’ll distract him_ , Jay mouths. Zane nods, showing that he understands the silent words. 

Ignoring the rush of fear, the human walks out into the hall, where a confused looking Kai is peeking into the room next door. 

“Hey.” The young adult greets with a small wave. “Is everything okay?”

The demon lights up at the sight of him. “Yeah, I was just wondering where everyone was. Zane’s not answering his comm, and Cole’s not where I left him. Have you seen them?”

Jay instinctively glances over at the room, then silently curses himself as he realizes that he did. “Uh… no?”

**_God_ **, he’s an idiot.

Kai arches an eyebrow. “Then you wouldn’t mind if I looked around a little more.” It’s clear that he knows about Jay’s bluff, and the young adult desperately tries to think of something he could do to make it more believable. 

He draws a blank, and just stands there, frozen. 

“Bluejay?” His boyfriend prompts with a frown, concern suddenly coloring his features. “Are you okay?”

“Um, yeah? I’m- I’m good.” The young adult stutters out, internally cursing himself. Why does he always do this to himself?

But if Kai’s focused on him, he’s not focused on trying to find the others… hmm. This might just work out in his favor… 

“I- okay, not really.” He ‘admits’, pretending to be somewhat shy as he glances off to the side. 

The demon is immediately next to him, looking him over. “You’re not hurt, are you? Or is it mental?” The concern he shows is downright **_insulting_ **. Why does he suddenly give a shit?

But maybe it’s not new. Maybe he’s only just now starting to notice it. He has all these reasons to hate the immortal, but for some reason, the immortal doesn’t hate him. 

Hmm. Well, that’s something he can think about later. Right now he needs to keep him distracted long enough for Lloyd to escape.

“It’s, uh, it’s mental.” Jay ducks his head, trying to act as though he’s embarrassed. He has no idea where he’s going with this, but maybe he can bullshit his way out of the mess he’s starting to make.

Or maybe just stop making the mess. That might work too.

“Alright.” Kai hesitates a moment. “What, uh, what do you need?” 

“Huh?”

“How can I help fix the problem?” The demon prompts, sounding somewhat uneasy. “Whatever it is, I can try and fix it.”

Oh. Oh, **_shit_ **. Jay doesn’t actually have a problem that can be fixed, he’s just being whiny in order to distract him.

Time to bullshit some lie that he’ll get caught in three seconds after telling it!

“I- I don’t really think you can…” It’s a last ditch attempt to try and avoid having to come up with something. 

“There’s got to be **_something_ **.” Kai sounds almost annoyed by his excuse. “A hug? Ice cream? Video games?”

Perfect! The immortal just handed him an excuse, all he needs to do is not blow it-

“Uh…. yes.”

What the fuck was that? What does he mean by _‘yes’_? Why does he have no control over his voice?!

Kai seems to have the same question, and as he’s about to ask it, Jay stumbles out a response.

“I, uh, I mean that I want all of the above.” 

Realization dawns on the demon’s face, and he nods. He starts to walk back down the hall, and the young adult is quick to follow.

Yes! His distraction was successful!

“D’you have a favorite flavor?” His boyfriend prompts. 

“I like vanilla.” Jay smiles, unconsciously glancing back at the room- and silently cursing himself as he does.

Kai seems to notice that something’s off, and he glances back as well. “What were you doing down here anyway?”

**_Fuck_ **. 

“Um. Heh. I was, I was- well. It’s, uh, it’s kind of a long story?” He gives the demon a weak smile that he can probably see right through.

Kai gives him a suspicious look, but then sighs. “Bluejay, if you don’t want to tell me something, just tell me that. I don’t like the lying.”

Before Jay has the chance to respond, the immortal starts walking faster, signaling that he’s done with the conversation and isn’t looking for a response.

… is Kai, like, **_okay_ **? He’s been acting really weird ever since that conversation with Nya…

Well, it seems like everyone’s been acting weird. Kai with Nya, Zane with Cole, Lloyd with mankind…

Something’s going on here. And Jay’s going to find out what it is… 


	8. Jay Has A “Good” Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying. That’s all I have to say for myself.

They make it back to the game room, and Kai grabs the two of them some ice cream before they curl up on the couch together, resuming the new Starfarer movie that they had started watching earlier.

The demon is clingy, holding on tightly and barely letting the young adult move. It’s…  **_annoying_ ** , to say the least.

What did Nya say to him? She’s spoken with him before, what happened this time that makes such a difference?

He could ask, but something tells him that Kai won’t be too forthcoming in his answer, and it might make the demon suspicious of him.

The latter is unlikely, but still. He’s not taking any chances. Because the last time Kai found out he was faking it… 

Y- y’know what? He’s just…  **_not_ ** going to think about it. He’ll just nope his thoughts until they go somewhere else.

They watch the movie to the end, Jay shifting as he tries to put minimal space between him and his boyfriend.

Sadly, it doesn’t work.

But luckily, when the credits roll, the demon releases him and gets to his feet. “It’s getting late.” He notes.

Jay nods, despite having no way of knowing what time it is.

Kai gestures for the young adult to follow him, and he does so without complaint. But as they get closer to the guest room, troubling thoughts start to spawn.

Jay- Jay has said ‘ **_Later_ ** ’. And then the time he referred to as that passed. And now they’re going to the same bed. At night. Where they’ll sleep together.

Which kind of sleeping together? Jay has  **_no_ ** idea, and he hates it  **_so_ ** fucking much!

So they make their way to the guest bedroom, and Kai closes the door behind them. The click that it gives shouldn’t sound as ominous as it does, but the young adult can’t help but think of the implications of the two of them being alone together.

And much to his discomfort- but not surprise- Kai seems inclined to take things in that direction, a wandering hand brushing against his clothes- clothes that suddenly seem to offer too little protection.

“You ready?” The demon prompts, starting to take off the young adult’s shirt. Jay lets him, fighting back the quiver of fear that assaults him when it’s removed.

He did agree to this, but that was while the love potion was still in effect! But he has to make the demon think that said potion is still working, meaning that he can’t back out.

In summary: he’s fucked. Literally.

“Y- yeah. I, I’m ready.” The young adult lies, letting the demon continue to manipulate his body until he’s taken off the shirt. He tosses it to the side carelessly before taking a few steps back, looking over the human’s body with an almost predatory smile.

“Mmm. Strip for me.” 

It takes a few moments for the words to register, but once they do, he feels his face heat up an obnoxious amount. Kai- he just said that so  **_casually_ ** . Like it’s not a big deal.

Slowly, he does as he’s told, trying to prevent his hands from shaking. Scratch that, his whole body is shaking! Hopefully the demon won’t notice… 

When he’s down to his briefs, he stops, glancing up at Kai. His face burns, and he tries to think of something, anything, that he could use to get away, or even just stall for a little while.

“Is my little Bluejay shy?” Kai prompts with a sharp smile, stepping in closer. “I’ve seen you like this before, y’know.  **_Fuck_ ** , I’m getting hard just thinking about it.” The demon groans. And sure enough, his pants sport a noticeable bulge.

The immortal slowly strips himself, clearly trying to be sensual. And yeah, he’s got perfect abs and a body that looks like it was sculpted by god himself, but the only thing pooling in the young adult’s gut is dread.

Soon enough, Kai is down to his underwear, same as Jay. The demon brings him over to the bed, pushing him onto it, flat on his back. “We’re gonna test that refractory period of yours, m’kay?”

Oh. Oh no. That-  **_no_ ** ! He doesn’t want- he got enough of that last time! But despite his horror, he forces himself to nod his agreement. This is going to be a nightmare- even worse than before. Because this time, he can’t even try to get away. He has to pretend he wants it, has to pretend he wants  **_Kai_ ** .

… god, he’s scared. What’s going to happen to him? What’s Kai going to do? Well, he has a general idea of what’s going to happen, it’s probably not going to be the exact same as before. 

The demon pulls him more onto the bed, placing him in the middle before starting to pull down his briefs. Jay forces himself not to tense up as they’re pulled down, letting Kai do as he wishes without resistance.

“Everything okay, Bluejay?” His boyfriend questions, a concerned expression on his face.

“Just a little nervous.” Jay lies, shifting uncomfortably. Well- it’s only  **_kind of_ ** a lie. He  **_is_ ** nervous, after all.

The demon gives him a small smile that’s probably meant to be comforting. “You’ll enjoy it.” He promises.

And it’s exactly that that he’s afraid of. He doesn’t  **_want_ ** to enjoy it. He doesn’t want any of it. He just wants to go back to the scrapyard and live a happy life without ever having met Kai.

The immortal pulls the young adult’s briefs all the way down, tossing them to the side. Jay forces himself to take deep, slow breaths, closing his eyes. This- this’ll be fine. It’s just- it won’t go on forever. Maybe an hour or two, tops.

Oh, who is he kidding? He has no idea how long these things take. For all he knows, they won’t be done until the next morning.

Good job, brain. Such a comforting thought.

A warm hand runs down his side, its touches feather-light. Jay turns his head to the side, squeezing his eyes shut tighter. It- it’ll be okay. He just has to get through this shit-show, and then he can go back to working on a plan.

He hears a cap pop, and a shiver runs through him. It- it’ll be okay. It  **_has_ ** to be okay. He just has to get through this, just has to-

His legs are spread, and a slick finger presses against his hole. Jay feels himself tense up. This is it. This is how he loses whatever scrap of dignity he had left.

This is what’ll end up haunting his nightmares for the rest of his life.

“You ready?” Kai repeats his earlier question, his voice just above a murmur. And Jay wants to say no. He wants to scream and punch the demon before running off and-

And what? Where would that get him?

The young adult takes a deep breath, forcing himself to relax his muscles. “Y- yeah.” He lies with a quavering voice. “I’m- I’m ready.”

Even with his eyes closed, he  **_knows_ ** the demon is grinning down at him hungrily. He takes another deep breath, but it’s cut off with a sharp squeak as Kai pushes his first finger inside. 

He’s barely had a moment to adjust when a second one is thrusted in, making him cry out, his eyes flying open as he stares up at his boyfriend, silently pleading for mercy.

“What a pretty little hole.” The demon coos, starting to dig around inside him. “Perfect for a pretty little slut.”

A strangled noise makes its way out of his throat, and Kai chuckles at it, still digging around. His fingers brush against that spot inside, and the young adult does his best to bite back a cry of pleasure. Sadly, it doesn’t work very well.

The demon sharply smiles down at him, starting to work his fingers against that spot. “Don’t hold back, Bluejay. I wanna hear those moans of yours.”

And moan Jay does, feeling himself harden at the massage of that point inside.  **_God_ ** , it feels good. Why does it feel so good? He doesn’t want it! It doesn’t matter how incredible the feeling of Kai’s fingers inside him is, that doesn’t mean he wants them there!

He hates the gasps and whines that escape him, but judging from the soft cooing from Kai, his boyfriend loves them.

“You like that? You like having your tight hole finger fucked open? Of course you do. Whores  **_love_ ** having something inside them. And you’re my little whore, aren’t you?” 

Jay whimpers, desperately wanting to deny it. But he has to pretend to be Kai’s, has to pretend that he’s still under the potion’s effects.

It’s meant to be quiet, but the word is ripped from him loudly when he cries out in pleasure from another thrust of the demon’s fingers. “Y-  **_y_ ** **_e_ ** **_S_ ** .”

That sharp smile is something he’ll never be able to erase from his mind-  **_well_ ** . This whole experience is something he’ll never be able to erase from his mind.

“Hmm? Could you speak up? I couldn’t quite hear you.”

Jay wishes he could make some snappy retort. But even if he could do that without blowing his cover, his mind is too wracked from the sheer  **_pleasure_ ** to even begin to formulate a comeback.

He whines, silently willing the demon to drop it and just let him suffer without the added humiliation.

“C’mon, Bluejay, you know what I want.” 

A whimper escapes him. God, just let this end! They’ve barely even started, and he’s already desperate for it to be over. 

“I- I’m, your- your little wh-whore.” It almost physically pains him to get the words out. He feels so  **_filthy_ ** , disgusted with himself for the way he gives in.

The demon above him groans, ‘rewarding’ the words with a third finger. “ ** _Fuck_** , you’re being so good for me today. Such a good Bluejay.” The last part is purred sensually, and Jay hears himself whimper. Why the **_everloving_** **_fuck_** is he enjoying this?! He just wants it to be over, why is his body begging for more?!

The rough fingering tears moans from him, and he hates it, he hates them, he hates Kai, he hates his life,  **_he just wants it to be over_ ** !

His boyfriend’s free hand comes up to the young adult’s chest. A thumb rubs over his nipple, and it adds to the burning pleasure running through him.

Jay spews a string of curses at the feeling. Why does it feel so  **_good_ ** ? He doesn’t want this, damn it! 

“You having fun, Bluejay? You like that?” Kai continues to grope his chest, fiddling with the nipple as he keeps up his steady barrage of his insides. 

It’s just too much! He knows that it hasn’t been very long, but he can already feel himself approaching the edge. What is Kai  **_doing_ ** to him?!

“I- I’m gonna-“

Jay can’t even get the whole sentence out before the wave of ecstasy overtakes him. But even through the orgasm, the demon doesn’t slow- if anything, he seems to be pounding into that spot  **_harder_ ** .

The rush ends, but even then, the immortal doesn’t stop. The repeated slams against that point send mixed jolts of pleasure and pain through him. 

“ **_Fuck_ ** , you look good like this. Spread out like the little whore you are.”

The young adult whimpers, and the demon gives a dark chuckle. “D’you think you’re ready for the real deal? Ready to have my thick cock in that pretty little hole of yours?”

Jay whimpers again.  **_Of fucking course not_ ** ! He doesn’t want Kai anywhere  **_near_ ** him, much less  **_inside_ ** .

The demon pulls his fingers out abruptly, and Jay finds himself clenching down on air as he’s suddenly emptied.

He keeps his eyes on the ceiling as he hears his boyfriend slicking himself up. The blunt tip presses against his hole, but doesn’t push inside.

The hand that was on his chest moves to his hip, a firm grip keeping him pinned.

And even though he’s not looking, he knows by Kai’s tone that he’s smirking. “C’mon, Bluejay, you know what I wanna hear.” 

Oh, god. He wants- he wants Jay to  **_beg_ ** for it? He wants him to plead to have himself be- be  **_defiled_ ** ? 

Jay takes a deep breath. He doesn’t have a choice but to go along with it, so he’s going to have to- going to have to-

“ **_Please_ ** .” The young adult breathes, hating himself for it. This just keeps on getting worse!

“ _ ‘Please’ _ , what?” Kai prompts. 

The human whimpers. This- this literally  **_cannot_ ** get any worse. He sucks in a sharp breath in order to get out, “Please- please fuck me.”

Kai smirks. “All you had to do was ask, Bluejay.” He starts to slowly push himself inside, a slight burning sensation accompanying the movement.

Jay hears a whine escape him as he shifts, silently wishing for it all to be over. But instead, the demon takes his free hand and brings it to the young adult’s cock, stroking him slowly as he continues to push inside.

It  **_hurts_ ** . Well, it also feels good, but he doesn’t want to focus on that. 

His cock throbs with a mix of pleasure and pain, the overstimulation nearly bringing tears to his eyes as it hardens once again. God, god it’s so much. **_Too_** much! It’s too intense, too many feelings jammed in too small a space.

It seems to take an eternity before Kai bottoms out, his cock fully seated inside. 

“ **_Shit_ ** , you’re tight.” The demon murmurs, more to himself than anything. But Jay barely even registers the words, his attention completely captivated by the feelings that rush through him, the heat that both stings and gratifies him.

Slowly, Kai starts to pull back, and this time Jay knows that it means he’s starting rather than ending.

The motion of him thrusting back in is sudden, and it tears a loud cry from the young adult. The cock inside him seems to almost burn his insides with its heat.

The immortal continues his steady barrage against that spot inside, pushing past it and slamming up into his guts. 

“The fuck are you so big?” He hears himself grumble, which prompts a breathy laugh from his boyfriend.

“Well, this ass of yours isn’t gonna fuck itself.” He jokes. But as soon as the words leave his mouth, a wicked grin crosses his face. “Well,  **_actually_ ** …”

The demon falls back, leaving the young adult straddling him as he lays down. Jay gives a soft whimper as realization dawns on him. 

Oh, this better not be what he thinks it is. 

Kai grinds up, and Jay finds himself scrambling for purchase. He winds up gripping his boyfriend’s chest, breathing heavily. 

The demon looks over the human with an expression of admiration. “You look gorgeous.” He murmurs, his hands coming to rest on the young adult’s hips. 

Jay can only manage a whimper in response.

Unfortunately, Kai seems to notice that something’s up. “Bluejay? You doing okay?” He prompts.

The young adult forces a nod, trying to wrestle his reactions and emotions back under his control. But even if he did have them fully contained, he knows that any attempt at a lie would be easily discovered.

So he’s going to have to avoid answering. And the best way to do that, is, well… 

Bracing his feet, he grinds down some, hating the way it makes that heat rush through him. But the hatred- nor the spike of discomfort- doesn’t stop the moan that escapes him. And unfortunately, the noise seems to please Kai, who gives a groan of his own.

The demon’s hands tighten their grip on his hips, and Jay already knows that they’re going to leave bruises.

A sudden thought strikes him, and he has to fight to prevent the revulsion from showing on his face. 

_ ‘ “If we’re lucky, my cock’ll be the only one you ever have. Can’t wait to see what you’ll look like bouncing on it, screaming out my name.” ‘ _

At the time, Jay had denied that he would ever do anything of the sort. But now… now things are different.

Damn this love potion.

“Why’d you stop?” Kai whines, grinding up. The young adult tightens his grip on his boyfriend’s chest, desperately trying to stabilize himself. He should probably brace his feet more, if he’s being honest.

**_Great_ ** . Now he’s thinking about how to better sex up Kai. What has his life come to?

“Just- just give me a sec.” The young adult gets out, trying to readjust his position. But every time he moves, so does the cock inside him, and the rush of mixed pleasure makes it hard to think properly and figure out how he  **_should_ ** position himself.

The demon below him gives a weak groan. “Stop  **_teasing_ ** , damn it!” He whines, bucking his hips up. 

Jay fumbles around a little more before he finds a good enough arrangement. Another moment passes as he hesitates, sucking in a deep breath. He’s going to hate himself for this, no question about it. 

Shakily, he lifts himself up some- maybe about an inch?- before dropping back down. 

He hates it, he hates it  **_so fucking much_ ** \- but that doesn’t stop the spike of pleasure that comes with the motion. It hurts, but for some reason, he’s enjoying that sting of overstimulation. A throaty moan is torn from him, mimicking the one that comes from Kai. 

“There you go go.” The demon breathes. “Just like that.”

Fighting back the swirl of revulsion inside him, he repeats the motion, lifting himself up in order to crash back down. Their hips meet again and again as he continues, Jay finding a steady pace as he tries to block out the feelings coming from it.

“FSM, just like that,  **_fuck_ ** , you feel so good. So good for me, taking me so well. How does it feel? Do you feel full, Bluejay? Stuffed full of my cock? Does it feel good?”

Jay whimpers, trying to block the words out. But he knows that Kai’s going to be expecting an answer- and he wasn’t able to actually ignore them, anyway. 

Even so, he can’t bring himself to reply- all that escapes him is another whimper as that stinging heat races through him, electrifying his veins.

Well. Not really. It just feels a lot like it.

“C’mon, tell me how it feels. Tell me how much you love getting my thick cock in that tight little ass of yours.” The demon thrusts up to meet his hips.

The young adult struggles to find words- the words that Kai wants to hear.

“ **_Big_ ** .” He breathes. “Fills- fills me up so good.  **_So_ ** good. Love, love your cock.” He’s scrambling for anything he can find that Kai will like, anything he can say to trick him into thinking he wants it. 

The demon under him groans loudly. “Go on, Bluejay, touch yourself. I wanna see how pretty you look when you cum.” 

Jay whimpers, shifting one hand onto himself so he can do as he was instructed. This  **_really_ ** shouldn’t feel as good as it does… 

Pumping his cock in time with his bouncing, he feels himself begin to come undone a second time, whines and moans escaping him as he grows closer and closer to the edge.

“ **_Cum for me_ ** .”

He’s ashamed to admit that its the order that sends him over, that heat enveloping him as his vision goes white.

He’s panting, desperately trying to regain ahold of himself, when Kai suddenly rolls him backward until they’re in the position they started in.

No. Absolutely  **_not_ ** . He can’t handle it again, he’s already so tired, please, let it end, let him just pass out and forget that any of this ever happened.

But the demon’s already pounding into him with much more force than Jay had done when he has control, slamming deep inside of him. 

“Please-  **_Kai_ ** !” He chokes out. It’s too much, fuck pretending he’s still under the effects of the love potion, it’s too much, too intense, its-

Kai silences any further attempt at a complaint with a rough kiss, teeth and tongue clashing as Jay forces himself to try to reciprocate.

But the immortal doesn’t slow in the slightest, he just keeps up his rough barrage against that spot inside. Against his will, the young adult feels himself begin to grow hard again.

The demon draws back from the kiss. “Fuck, so close, being so good for me, such a good Bluejay.  **_Tight_ ** , you’re so tight, made to be my cocksleeve, made to be  **_fucked_ ** like a desperate whore. Because you’re  **_my_ ** desperate whore, isn’t that right?”

A strangled whimper leaves him. This- this really should  **_not_ ** be turning him on. Why does it feel so good? Why are the words sending a rush through him? Why the everloving  **_fuck_ ** is he enjoying this?!

“Bluejay, I’m- I’m gonna-” Kai cuts himself off with a loud gasp as he hits his climax.

… this had better be the end of all this.

The demon takes a moment to recover, panting heavily. Once he’s regained his bearings- or at least has seemed to do so- he leans down and catches the young adult in a rough kiss.

Jay lets it happen. Even if he wasn’t pretending to be under the love potion, he just feels so  **_exhausted_ ** . The last time this happened, he was pumped up with so much adrenaline that he was able to shake it off and recover quickly.

This time, he feels like he wants to black out.

Kai draws back, giving the both of them a chance to breathe. But as he pulls out, a wandering hand makes its way back down to his cock, which gives Jay a startling realization.

He’s hard again.

**_Damn it_ ** .

“Considering that I’m the Master of Fire, you think I’d be the hottest one around. But it looks like you’ve got me out matched.” The demon winks.

Jay can’t help it. He just blurts it out. “Lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun and is almost twice as hot as the hottest fire.”

**_Shit_ ** .

He should  **_not_ ** have said that.

Much to his relief, Kai doesn’t seem to take offense. “You being nerdy really shouldn’t be so hot.” He growls hungrily, starting to pump the young adult’s cock. But then he pauses, and an almost evil smirk forms on his face. He stops his motions and pushes Jay back some, and for a moment, the human thinks that he’s going to suck him off again. And sure enough, he leans down as though he’s going to.

But then he folds the young adult’s legs back, and- and-

Is he  **_licking_ ** his asshole?

What the  **_fuck_ ** ?

Jay starts to voice his confusion out loud. “What are you-“

And then the demon pushes his tongue inside, and  **_holy shit_ ** that shouldn’t feel so good.

His words are cut off by his loud moan, which has him blushing furiously- not that he wasn’t doing that before. Why is he enjoying a  **_tongue_ ** inside of him? And more importantly, why the  **_fuck_ ** is Kai putting it there?!

It takes a moment for him to realize that the demon is sucking his own cum out of the young adult. 

He can feel his cock twitching from the way his boyfriend is cleaning him out, a loud cry is torn from his throat. His body is trembling, and he hears more whines and groans escape him.

A mixture of cum and spit drips down his ass, and  **_what the fuck is wrong with him why the fuck is he enjoying this it shouldn’t feel so good_ ** .

“Kai-“ He hisses out, unsure whether he’s begging the demon to stop or continue. And that  **_terrifies_ ** him. 

His boyfriend pulls back, looking him over as he admires his handiwork. “Go on,” he urges, “touch yourself.”

With a whimper, the human obeys, and the immortal goes back to what he was doing, sending pleasurable heat rushing through him. His cock still stings from the overstimulation, but the pain is outweighed by the pleasure at this point.

Kai continues to do- whatever the Hell he's doing. Jay honestly doesn’t care as long as he  **_doesn’t stop_ ** -

Wait.

Oh  **_fuck no_ ** !

His rhythm falters as humiliation runs through him. He just- he gave in to the demon  **_that easily_ ** ? How pathetic is he? He- he just got lost in the feelings and- and-

Kai draws back, licking his lips. Jay hears himself whine at the loss and mentally smacks himself.  **_No_ ** ! He should  **_not_ ** be enjoying this!

There’s a hungry look in the demon’s amber eyes as he slightly lowers the human’s legs and removes his hand from its position on his dick.

The immortal leans down and somehow manages to get the majority of the young adult’s cock into his mouth in one slick movement. 

Jay whimpers. It feels so  **_good_ ** , but he doesn’t want it to, damn it! At- at least it’ll be over soon. Kai said it would be over soon-  **_shit_ ** that feels good. Feels so fucking good, god, why does he not want it to feel good? He can barely think, his entire world is just a haze of pleasure with tinged pain of overstimulation but it feels  **_so fucking good_ ** -

His climax hits him like a freight train and leaves him gasping for air as he tumbles over the edge, vision whiting out.

Then he goes limp, completely spent. This- this **_has_** to be end. **_Please_** let it be the end. He can’t- he can’t handle anymore, it has to be over, it ** _has_** to be.

Kai pops off of him and helps him lay down comfortably on the bed. “Did so good for me, took me like a champ, you did  **_amazing_ ** , Bluejay, love you so much.”

Jay doesn’t have it in him to reply. He feels himself mumble  **_some_ ** kind of response before his eyes flutter shut. He surrenders to the darkness, letting it overtake him. 

He’s got another long day tomorrow.


	9. Kai Has Had Enough Of Cole’s Shit

Jay slowly blinks himself awake. Why- why does everything  **_hurt_ ** so much? Where is he? What-

_ ‘ “Fuck, so close, being so good for me, such a good Bluejay.  _ **Tight** _ , you’re so tight, made to be my cocksleeve, made to be  _ **fucked** _ like a desperate whore. Because you’re  _ **my** _ desperate whore, isn’t that right?” ‘ _

Oh.  **_That_ ** .

Heh. This- this is  **_fine_ ** .

His boyfriend mumbles something in his sleep and pulls the young adult closer to him, keeping him pinned in a firm embrace.

He debates waking him up, but decides that it’s not worth the risk. He doesn’t know what the demon will do, so it’s better to just wait it out. Maybe he could go back to sleep?

Closing his eyes, Jay tries to relax and let himself drift off. He just woke up, he’s comfy, there should be no problem, right?

Well, there is the small detail of him being cuddled by Kai. That kind of feels like it makes a difference.

Funny how he didn’t have any trouble falling asleep in Cole’s arms… why was that, anyway? It’s an odd feeling, the one he gets when he thinks of the vampire. One that almost reminds him of how the potion-

Oh.

Oh no.

**_Oh fuck no_ ** .

That- that  **_has_ ** to be a misunderstanding! His brain is just fried from all the craziness he went through last night, yeah, that’s it. That’s all it is! 

He doesn’t get a chance to dwell on it much further, because the demon shifts and makes a groaning noise that signifies that he’s awake.

Kai curls around him more. “G'morning, Bluejay.” He greets in a slurred, tired voice. 

“Good morning.” Jay returns quickly, trying to think of some excuse to get them out of bed. He’d like to avoid any attempts at another round.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to make an excuse, because there’s a knock on the door.  **_Finally_ ** , some good luck.

Kai groans, pulling the blanket over their heads. But after a beat, he reluctantly pulls it back down to a more reasonable height. “ **_What_ ** .” He demands.

“Breakfast is ready.” Zane tells them from the other side of the door.

The demon groans again. “ **_FSM_ ** , Zane, what time is it?” 

“It is 10:29.” The Nindroid informs. “I had assumed that you would appreciate a later wake up call.”

Jay uses this as an excuse to wiggle his way out of the immortal’s grasp and to start gathering an outfit- the sooner he’s clothed, the better.

He really shouldn’t be surprised by the way Kai watches him dress, or the hungry smirk he wears while he does.

“Thanks. We’ll be out in a few.” 

“Of course. I will see you then.” Zane replies, and footsteps make their way back towards the dining room.

The demon gets out of bed and makes his way over to Jay, stopping him before he can get his shirt on.

The immortal is wearing underwear, at the very least. There’s one small thing between them. Well, that and Jay’s pants. But god knows how long those are going to stay on… 

Warm hands ghost over his bruised hips, and the human tries to resist the shudder that goes through him at the touch. He has a bad feeling he knows where Kai is trying to go with this, and he needs to stop it  **_now_ ** .

“We need to- to go to breakfast.” He tries, silently cursing himself for the stutter.

“We can be quick.” His boyfriend breathes into his ear, starting to explore the young adult’s upper body.

“Kai…” Jay trails off, trying to come up with some other excuse.

The demon hums in response to his name, one of his hands beginning to creep downwards.

“It’s- well, heh, I just-“ There’s gotta be some way he can phrase this to explain that he doesn’t feel up to it without making it obvious that he’s not under the effects of the love potion anymore!

“Didn’t mark you last night. Didn’t claim you like I should’ve.” Kai murmurs against his skin. “You’re gonna look so pretty in purple… all marked up for me, everyone will know who you belong to. You’re **_mine_**. My little Bluejay, just for me.” 

Jay can feel himself begin to shake. No, no, not again, **_they just did this_ ** , doesn’t he get a break?!

The door suddenly slams open. Both of them whip to face it, and are surprised to see Cole standing there.

He looks as though he’s just sprinted through half the mansion, his face flushed and his breathing heavy. 

Zane runs up behind him. “My apologizes, I attempted to stop him, but-“

“ **_Let go of him_ ** .” Cole speaks in that soul-shattering voice, eyes locked dead on Kai.

The demon narrows his eyes. “Or what?” He taunts. “He’s my  **_boyfriend_ ** , you know. We’re allowed to have fun.”

Yeah…  _ ‘Fun’ _ . That’s- yeah. So much fun.

Zane attempts to pull Cole away, but the vampire- though clearly still injured- holds his ground. He then narrows his eyes, and repeats, “ **_Let him go._ ** ”

Surprisingly, Kai does, backing away from Jay in order to stalk closer to the younger immortal. “I don’t think you have the authority to tell me what to do. How’d you get out of that cell, anyway?”

The young adult just stands there, unsure of what to do. He feels so  **_vulnerable_ ** , and not just because he’s not fully clothed- though that is likely playing a factor.

“I released him in order to treat his injuries. I was acting under the assumption that you wished to keep him alive.” Zane informs the demon.

Well, that doesn’t sound quite like a lie… but it’s definitely not the whole truth, either. Just what is the Nindroid playing at? 

Kai huffs, clearly annoyed. But a small smirk starts to cross his face, and it’s obvious that he’s come up with some form of plan.

“How long did you say he could go without feeding, again?”

Jay watches as a flash of fear crosses his friend’s face.  **_No_ ** . He can’t let something like that happen to Cole, and especially not because the vampire was trying to protect him.

“In ideal conditions, three weeks. But because of the time that has already passed, and if this pattern of treatment continues, then approximately eight more days.” Zane informs the demon.

Jay takes a deep breath to steel himself before he speaks. He will  **_not_ ** let Cole get hurt. “Kai, it’s okay. I don’t think he’s fully comfortable with the love potion thing, but he’ll get used to it. He’s just trying to help. Sure, he’s going about it really bad, but he really is only trying to do what he thinks is best.”

There’s a pause, and the human allows himself to feel a touch of hope. Maybe-

His boyfriend’s fists clench, the knuckles going white. “ **_No_ ** .”

The young adult blinks. “Huh?”

“No. I’m not going to let you talk me out of this.” Kai then turns his attention back to the White Ninja. “Zane, take him back to the dungeon. And don’t let him out unless I give you permission. Got it?”

The Nindroid nods, but Jay can spot the flicker of unease. It’s only there for a split second, but it’s there all the same.

“I assume this instruction comes into effect immediately?” 

“Yeah, it does. Get him out of my sight.” The demon shoots the vampire a sharp glare.

Jay blinks, stunned. He-  **_what_ ** ? Kai- okay, he was not expecting that. 

Zane tugs Cole out of the room, and the vampire lets himself be moved, shooting the human one last concerned glance before he’s taken out of view.

Kai sighs and shakes his head. “Let’s just go to breakfast.” He grumbles.

So the two of them get dressed and make their way down to the dining room. By the time they get there, Zane has already returned from dropping the vampire off at the dungeon, and he sits beside Nya at the far end of the table.

The angel is tense, and judging from her expression, the Nindroid has already explained the situation.

The four of them eat quietly, and Jay wonders why Zane eats. Isn’t he robotic? 

_ ‘ “Y-you don’t need food?”  _

_“We don’t_ **need** _it, but we can have it without negative effects and it tastes too good to give up.” ‘_

Wait a minute, that implies that the White Ninja can taste things! Wha- how advanced  **_is_ ** his design?!

“Don’t be mad, Bluejay.” Kai speaks softly, but it still jolts the young adult from his thoughts. “I just want to protect you, that’s all.”

Jay narrows his eyes. “Isn’t that the same thing that Cole’s trying to do?” 

The moment the words leave his mouth, he regrets them. He’s supposed to be pretending to be under the effect of the potion! Lovestruck!Jay wouldn’t say something like that!

_ ‘ “Can’t there be a way you can get him out of the way  _ **without** _ killing him?” ‘ _

_ ‘ “Kai, he’s my  _ **friend** _. Literally my only friend. Please don’t kill him.” ‘ _

_ ‘ “You broke Cole’s wrist- someone should give him medical attention.” ‘ _

Hmm… on second thought, maybe he would.

“You don’t need to be protected from  **_me_ ** .” The demon points out, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

Uh oh, time to backtrack.

“Yeah, but he seems to think that I do. He just wants to help.” Jay tries.

There’s a pause. Kai seems to be considering this, an unsure expression on his face.

“You’re  **_starving someone_ ** because they were trying to help your boyfriend. You do realize how wrong that is, right?” Nya points out.

The demon doesn’t answer, choosing instead to take a large bite of food. Nya sighs and shakes her head, returning to her own meal.

The human tries to eat his breakfast, but for some reason, it doesn’t feel too appetizing anymore.

_ ‘Some reason’ _ . Ha. He knows  **_exactly_ ** why he’s not hungry.

Jay takes a few moments to gather his courage before speaking up again.

“Kai, please. He’s my friend, and I don’t want him to be hurting like this.”

The immortal’s knuckles go white from the way he clenches his fork. “I said  **_no_ ** . And that’s final.”

“But-“

“I’m not compromising on this one, Jay. End of discussion.” The demon states firmly.

The young adult freezes. Kai just referred to him by his  **_real name_ ** . Not a nickname. Not  _ ‘Bluejay’ _ . Just…  **_Jay_ ** _. _

That seems like a bad sign.

Zane gives him a warning glance, and the human decides to take a step back for the time being. Pushing right now won’t get him anywhere. 

But one way or another, he  **_will_ ** protect Cole. It's about time that  **_he_ ** does the saving around here.

… but he’s definitely not going to think about why he wants to protect him so much.


	10. HUNGRY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *drops this and runs*
> 
> Lol remember when I actually used to summarize the chapter here?

The rest of the meal is spent in tense silence, and Jay finds himself unwilling to comment on it. As much as he hates it when it’s quiet, he doesn’t want to risk setting off Kai.

The immortal finishes eating, but the human has barely touched his food. The latter receives an inquiring look from the former, but chooses not to answer it.

Zane finishes eating shortly before Nya does, and he collects the empty plates, bringing them over to the sink.

The angel gets up and leaves without a goodbye, and Jay finds himself wishing he could do the same. But more likely than not, Kai would follow him, and he’d be stuck right back where he was before.

The young adult pushes his plate away from him. He still doesn’t feel like eating.

The demon sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Bluejay, you know I love you. I only want to-“

In the kitchen, a plate is dropped.

The immortal immediately gets up, abandoning the conversation in favor of seeing what’s going on. 

“Zane?” Kai prompts. But the Nindroid just stands there, a faraway look in his eyes. 

Then, just as suddenly, he’s back. “My apologies, but I must go. I will return later.” He starts to make his way out of the room.

The demon narrows his eyes. “If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going?”

“Hell.” 

And with that, Zane walks away.

The immortal blinks, and he glances at Jay as if attempting to confirm that he just saw the same thing he did.

The human is just as bewildered as Kai. Why is he going to Hell? What’s so important that he has to just drop everything and leave?

“I’m going to go for a walk.” The demon decides, speaking slowly, carefully.

Jay doesn’t have to question it. Kai’s obviously planning on seeing what the Nindroid is up to. 

So he just gives a small smile and bids him farewell. But as soon as his boyfriend is out of sight, the human starts making his way to the dungeon.

He needs to see Cole.

* * *

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Those are the first words he hears when he reaches the bottom of the stairs. 

The vampire sits in the cell that he was in earlier- but thankfully not chained up this time. It looks like Zane is being nicer than before.

Which is actually very suspicious, but he doesn’t have time to worry about it at the moment.

“Kai just left, and I don’t think he’ll be back for a little while.” Jay assures, walking over until he’s just in front of the cell.

“Not what I’m talking about, but that’s another good point.” Cole looks away. 

The young adult knows it then: something is wrong. Something is very,  **_very_ ** wrong.

He takes a closer look at him. Most of the injuries are pretty well healed- especially considering how recent they are. But still, something seems wrong. It’s almost an aura that he gives off, something that makes a chill go down his spine.

“What’s going on?” The young adult prompts nervously, trying to keep his voice even.

“It’s not really slow like you would expect. It just kind of hits all at once. Or maybe that’s just because I’m sensitive.” The vampire is tense, strung as tight as a bow. 

“What are you talking about?” Jay demands.

“I- I can’t. You-  **_go_ ** . Get out of here.” Cole orders, but the demand is weak, and the young adult can’t take it seriously.

“ **_Tell me_ ** .” He insists. “Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

“... yesterday, when Kai asked me how long I could last without feeding, do you remember what I said?”

The young adult frowns, trying to remember. What has he said?

_ ‘ “A week, best case scenario. But it’s already been four days, and vengestone isn’t exactly going to help the situation. So… about another day, max.” ‘ _

“Sure, I’ll  **_survive_ ** another eight days, but…” Cole trails off.

“You’re hungry.” Jay realizes.

The immortal clenches his fists. “You need to go.” He insists. “You’re not safe here.”

He sounds  **_desperate_ ** . It’s downright  **_painful_ ** to see the sheer  **_need_ ** on his face.

The young adult frowns. “What do you mean, I’m not safe?” He questions.

The vampire is breathing heavily now. “Because I’m wearing vengestone while in a vengestone cage, and I haven’t fed in five days. On top of that, you smell  **_so damn good_ ** and it makes me want to fucking rip you open and- and-“ He stops, trembling.

The human starts to slowly back away from the bars. Cole was right.  **_He shouldn’t be here_ ** .

He tries to make his way toward the stairs, but the vampire is across the cell in a heartbeat, slamming into the bars as he grabs at where Jay was a moment before.

The young adult practically  **_runs_ ** across the room and up the stairs, but when he’s halfway up, he hears a pathetic whine behind him that makes him pause.

“ **_Wait_ ** , please, I’ll- I’ll be gentle, I won’t turn you, it won’t hurt that much, Jay, please, come back-“

There’s so much  **_misery_ ** in his voice that it’s heartbreaking, and the human finds himself hesitating. He can’t- he can’t just leave him like this!

“ **_Please_ ** .” The word is a soft, pitiful whimper, and it’s that that decides it for him.

Jay takes a deep breath.

And he goes back down the stairs.

Cole stares at him as he comes back into his line of sight. His eyes are hollow and empty, and it just about sends shivers down his spine.

The human stops just outside his reach. He needs to come up with a plan.  **_Something_ ** , anything. He could ask the vampire, but he doesn’t seem like he’ll be too helpful at the moment.

But he’s the expert on this, so Jay might as well give it a shot.

“Alright.” He breathes, trying to keep his voice from trembling. “How is this going to work?”

“ **_Closer_ ** .” Cole begs.

“Explain first.” He’s firmer this time, managing to sound more at ease and in control than he actually is.

The immortal stares at him, still with that hungry expression. “What- what do you want to know?”

Jay hesitates, trying to think. “ **_If_ ** I come over there, what- where would you bite? And- and for how long?” He makes sure to put emphasis on the  _ ‘if’ _ to show that he's not making any promises.

“I- wrist?” Cole offers. “I could- could feed from there. And, uh, I don’t- a minute? Not- not very long. Just a small- small bite.” 

The young adult tries to think of any more clarifying questions. “You- you said it wouldn’t turn me, right? And that it won’t- it won’t hurt?”

“Won’t turn.” The vampire confirms. “It- it probably won’t hurt.” The aura from before is growing stronger now, and every single inch of him screams to  **_run_ ** .

But Jay holds his ground. He can’t just leave Cole like this! 

“Probably?” He questions.

“It- it won’t.” The immortal quickly corrects himself.

The young adult takes a slow, deep breath. Okay. He’s- he’s going to do this. He’s going to walk over and let a vampire drink his blood.

… how did he talk himself into this?

Jay shakes his head.  **_No_ ** . No more thinking. He’s just going to walk up to the cell and be done with it. He needs to do this. Cole has done so much for him, he can’t just turn his back on him now!

The human holds out his arm and walks up to the cell, trying to stop himself from trembling. But much to his surprise, the immortal doesn’t grab him the second that he’s in range. He waits until he’s right next to the bars with only a few inches separating them.

Compared to before, his movements are slow and gentle. Cold hands take his arm, and Jay finds himself thinking back to when they slept in the same bed and how warm the immortal had felt then.

When it happens, its sudden, and the human is startled by the movement- but more so by the fangs.

They sink deep into his wrist, and at first, it doesn’t seem so bad. It feels weird, but tolerable. 

And then pain lashes from the punctures throughout his entire body. Every inch of him  **_screams_ ** , and Jay crumples to the floor. The movement tears his arm from the vampire’s grasp, and for a second, the pain lessens.

But Cole drops to his knees as well, and before Jay gets the chance to flee, he’s already been grabbed and those teeth sink back inside of him, immobilizing him with  **_agony_ ** .

But for some reason, no screams escape him. He just lays there, his eyes wide and his breathing heavy, as his entire body throbs in unspeakable pain.

Everything begins to grow fuzzy. It  **_hurts_ ** , it hurts so much, he just wants it to stop. Why won’t it stop? He tries to pull away from the source of the agony, but he remains frozen, trapped in place. What’s going on? Wha- why does it hurt so much?

There’s noise, but its so…  **_muted_ ** . Faint, almost like its far away. 

A door is slammed open, and it echoes through his mind like it’s on repeat. Shouting occurs, and Jay can’t make out the words, but he feels himself be roughly tugged on, and the pain, it- it goes away. 

The lack of the torment doesn’t help make things less fuzzy, and the human squints as he tries to figure out what's going on. He feels himself being lifted, carried, taken away, somewhere away from the pain. As he’s slipping into unconsciousness, he manages to make out one last thing.

“ **_No_ ** ! Stay with me, Bluejay, I need you to st-”

And that’s all he gets before he tumbles into the darkness.


	11. Kai Is Stressed Out By His Reckless Boyfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this is kind of a filler chapter but I need it before I can get any further... the plot is mentioned once or twice lol

Jay wakes up in a soft bed. Blinking drearily, he looks around. What’s going on? Where is he?

He’s in… the medical room? Why? What happened?

And then it hits him. Oh.  **_Cole_ ** happened.

He tries to think back through the haze, and sudden panic hits him when he reaches the end of the experience.

Kai was the one who rescued him.

“Bluejay! You’re awake!” The demon rushes into the room, clearly delighted by this. In mere moments, he’s standing beside the bed, wrapping Jay in his tight grip.

The young adult lets it happen. But he can’t stop the rage that starts to boil inside him.

**_This is Kai’s fault_ ** .

The Red Ninja had chosen to starve Cole, to drive him to the brink of insanity- maybe even past that. Sure, it was Jay’s decision to go down there, but he wouldn’t have had to if the demon hadn’t locked him up like that. Cole isn’t the one at fault here, he had tried his best to hold back, to get his friend to leave. And while he did lie about the pain, he clearly wasn’t himself. At that point, he probably would’ve said anything to get the human to come back.

But the immortal beside him seems so happy that he’s okay, as though he doesn’t realize what he’s done. He draws back from the hug, and Jay realizes that he’s probably going to blame the whole thing on-

Oh.

He’s going to kill Cole. Or try to, anyway.

Jay can’t let that happen.

But as of right now, he can’t bring it up. It would be ridiculously suspicious if the first thing he spoke about was his concern for the vampire.

“How long was I out?” The young adult looks over his boyfriend. The relief he’s showing seems to imply that it was longer than just a few minutes… 

“About two days.” Kai admits. “It was terrifying. Don’t you  **_ever_ ** do something like that again! I- I thought I was going to lose you!” The pain in his voice isn’t faked, and Jay feels a twinge of pity. The demon thought he was going to lose the one person who actually cares about him.

And even though the human doesn’t actually care about him, he doesn’t know that.

The young adult brings his wrist up for inspection. There’s visible scars from where the fangs had sunk in, and Jay winces as he remembers the pain they had caused.

“I’ll try to avoid going into another coma.” The young adult agrees with a small smile, putting his arm back down. He hesitates a moment before adding the question that he’s been thinking about the whole time. 

“What happened to Cole?”

Kai’s expression goes dark. “He’s not dead, if that’s what you're asking. He doesn’t deserve a peaceful death.” 

Uh oh.

“It wasn’t his fault.” Jay blurts out. “It- it was mine. I shouldn’t have gone down there. He- he was too far gone to be able to think.”

Actually it was Kai’s, but the human is smart enough not to mention that.

The demon shakes his head with a pained smile. “That’s one of the things that I like about you.” He sighs. “You’re just so  **_pure_ ** .”

The human pauses. “... thanks?” He tries weakly, unsure of how he should actually respond.

“I probably shouldn’t encourage it. There is such a thing as being too nice, you know.” Kai points out. “I don’t want you to get taken advantage of.”

Really. The guy who took advantage of him doesn’t want him to get taken advantage of. That’s interesting.

And also annoying as fuck.

“You’re not going to starve him again, right?” Jay prompts nervously.

The demon quickly shakes his head. “No! I’m not stupid or anything. I’ll get some help from an old friend of mine. Sure, he’ll regret ever being born, but I won’t starve him.”

**_That_ ** doesn’t sound good.

“An old friend?” The human presses, concern starting to creep in. Is Cole going to be okay? Well, considering the circumstances, probably not… 

“Skylor.” Kai elaborates. “I’ve known her for a while. She’s a demon, too. Well, she was originally half angel and had wings, but her dad tore them off. It’s kind of a long story.”

Jay stares in horror. “Her  **_dad_ ** tore off her wings?!” 

“Yeah, he was kind of an asshole. Don’t worry, we killed him.” The immortal assures.

The young adult pauses. “Wasn’t he a demon?” He frowns. “Don’t you guys just respawn in Hell?”

“Well, we’re not totally invincible.” His boyfriend admits. “I was an angel back then, and that helped. Got this guy named Ronin to lend a hand. It was actually easier than I expected.”

It’s- it’s possible to  **_actually_ ** kill a demon?! In a way that they don’t resurrect?! Where was this knowledge five days ago?!

Kai seems to take his reaction as concern- which is probably a good thing. “Don’t worry, I’m tough. There’s only a few people who actually know how to do it, anyway. I’m not going anywhere.” The demon presses a kiss to his forehead. 

Okay, if there’s only a few people who know how, he needs to find some way to get into contact with them. Kai has just said that he’s friends with Skylor, so that leaves this Ronin guy.

Oh, who is he kidding? He doesn’t want to kill the demon. Sure, he hates him with every fiber of his being, but he doesn’t want to **_murder_** him- or help anyone else do it, for that matter.

Well, if they steal his powers and lock him up, then he won’t be a threat anymore! That works out-

Wait. The Overlord is a demon.

He  **_does_ ** need to contact Ronin.

“You better not.” Jay pulls his boyfriend in for a hug. “I like my Kai  **_alive_ ** , thank you very much.”

Is this flirting? Is this how you flirt? Is it?  **_Is it_ ** ?!

… yeah he has no clue.

The immortal snorts, pulling back. “Yeah, I like me alive too.”

Zane steps into the room. “Kai, lunch is-“ The Nindroid pauses when he notices the young adult sitting up. “Jay, it is good to see that you are awake. If you do not mind, may I run a few tests? I wish to ensure that there are no lingering effects from…  **_previous events_ ** .” 

The human nods. “Uh, yeah. Go ahead.”

So the White Ninja runs his tests, poking and prodding and even a blood draw while Kai waits in the corner of the room, his gaze locked on the Nindroid’s every movement.

It seems to take an eternity before Zane is done with his tests. He seems to be happy with the resul- oh who is he kidding?  **_Zane_ ** ?  _ ‘Happy’ _ ? 

Zane seems to think the results are acceptable, and explains that Jay is in relatively good health considering what he’s just been through. He then adds that lunch will most likely be cold and that he has to make it again, and he leaves the room. 

Which leaves Kai and Jay alone again.

Great.

“I was so worried.” The demon repeats, moving closer. He brushes some of Jay’s hair off to the side, gently tilting his chin up so that he can lock their lips together. 

He kisses him again and again, over and over, stealing his air away and leaving him dizzy. When he finally pulls away, the young adult is panting, desperately trying to regain his composure. 

Kai’s eyes have faded from their usual color and into that fiery orange, the same way they do whenever he gets too into something- and unfortunately, like now, that something is usually Jay.

“Bluejay…” He breathes softly. “I thought I was going to lose you. You said that I wouldn’t lose you.” 

_ ‘ “I don’t want to lose you.” _

_ “You’re not going to lose me. I’m right here. I’m right here.” ‘ _

“And you won’t.” The human lies. Sooner or later, Jay’s going to walk away from this.

He feels kind of guilty for leading Kai on like this, but given the circumstances, he doesn’t really have a choice.

“I won’t.” Kai agrees. “But as of right now, you’re  **_human_ ** . You’re fragile. It would be so easy for someone to-“ The demon hesitates, and the pain in his voice is easy to recognize.

There’s a heavy pause, and Jay finds himself unsure of what to say. He-

“What kind of immortal do you want to be?”

The young adult pauses. “Huh?”

“Not a ghost, of course- they’re a pretty shitty kind of immortal. Demon and angel are out too, you have to be born with parents like that or turned into a demon after being born an angel.” The Red Ninja continues.

Kai- Kai wants to make him an immortal? Well, he’s mentioned it before, but- really? He wants to- 

Jay doesn’t want to be immortal, he doesn’t think. Does he? 

Not if it means living out his life with Kai, he doesn’t. 

“I’d suggest vampire, but Cole would like that too much. Maybe some kind of were-creature? What’s your favorite animal?” 

The young adult stares at his boyfriend. Uh. How about no.

His expression must convey his thoughts, because the demon concedes to it. “Yeah, shape-shifting into an animal doesn’t sound too fun. Maybe we could get someone to curse you? It wouldn’t really be a curse, more of a blessing if we‘re asking for it, but curse is still the technical term.” 

… is there a way for Jay to explain that he doesn’t want to be turned immort-

Does he really not want to be immortal? The power that he would have, how much he could hone his lightning, no need to worry about the passage of time.

It sounds incredible, honestly. Why should he deny himself a chance to live without fear? He would-

He would end up miserable. What’s the point of life if there’s no end? Isn’t that part of the meaning? Would he even be the same person without his mortality?

But at the same time… being an immortal… it sounds so amazing. He could just  **_live_ ** , just do whatever he wanted without fear. 

He’s tired of being afraid all the time.

Should he- should he really become an immortal?


	12. For Some Unknown Reason, Kai Has Emotions

Oh, who is he kidding? It’s not like he has a choice. Kai’s already made the decision for him.

“Bluejay?” His boyfriend prompts. “You doing okay?”

Jay nods. “Yeah, it’s just- I don’t know if I want to be immortal?” It turns into a question, and the human silently curses himself. He shouldn’t have said anything!

Kai’s expression darkens, and the young adult has to force himself not to lean back or act afraid. 

“I’m not going to lose you.” His voice is firm, commanding. Jay quickly realizes that he needs to change the subject.

But before he gets the chance, the demon is already continuing. His voice is softer this time, but still leaves no room for argument. “I’ve lost too many people to let you go. I understand that it’ll be new and probably somewhat confusing at first, but I’m not backing down on this one. You belong to me, and I’m not going to let death take you away.”

Well  **_somebody’s_ ** possessive. The young adult wants to argue that he  **_belongs_ ** to no one- he’s his own person!- but he knows that his boyfriend wouldn’t take kindly to the protest, so he stays silent, looking off to the side.

“Bluejay, look at me.” Kai uses his hand to tilt Jay’s head and bring himself back to the center of attention. 

“I love you. And it’s because I love you that I want to keep you. I won’t let anyone take you away from me. And we’ll be  **_happy_ ** together. You won’t ever have to suffer again- I’ll make sure of it. I know the idea of eternal life might sound scary right now- but we’ll be together. And as long as we’re together, it’ll be okay.”

Jay doesn’t get a chance to respond, because the demon pulls him in for another deep kiss. 

He doesn’t really want to actually be Kai’s for all eternity, but he’s kinda backed into a corner here. Kai’s not going to be changing his mind on this one.

He just has to hope that they can stop him before he goes through with it.

* * *

Jay should’ve known that after being in a coma for two days, Kai would want to- well.

He’d want to have sex.

Luckily, the demon only gets as far as sucking a few hickies into his neck before Zane interrupts, informing them that lunch is ready.

Thank  **_god_ ** . He’s not sure he’d be able to handle it if the immortal had his way.

The human rubs at one of the marks his boyfriend had left as they make their way to the dining room. How did he even get in this situation? It was only a week ago that he was living back on the junkyard, and now-

And now he lives like  **_this_ ** . 

But there’s nothing he can do about it. This is his life now, and he just has to grin and bear it. And hey, if everything goes well, he won’t have to deal with Kai for much longer. It’ll- it’ll be okay.

They step into the dining room, and Jay immediately notices the girl with bright red hair.

“Skylor, this is Jay. Jay, Skylor.” Kai introduces the two.

The human gives a shy wave. Is it a thing for demons to have weird hair, or it just a coincidence?

“It’s nice to meet you.” The girl smiles. 

Nya, who is sitting beside her at the table, glances over at Jay. The young adult can’t quite read her expression, so he just prays she’s not trying to wordlessly tell him something important.

Kai sits down across from Skylor, and Jay sits beside him, trying to figure out how to respond. After a moment, he realizes he needs to speak before it becomes awkward.

“Heh, it’s, uh, it’s nice to meet you too.” He agrees, sheepishly glancing off to the side.

Aaaaaand too late, it’s already awkward.

Why is he like this?

Luckily, Zane walks in at that exact moment, bringing in food. He sets it down on the table before returning to the kitchen for more.

“So, what’re we going to do about Cole?” Skylor asks as Kai begins to grab and fill up a plate.

Jay tenses at the reminder. He wishes he could say that if he could go back in time and he would go back down, but he honestly can’t. He had a chance to limit Cole’s suffering, so he did it. 

The real question is if letting himself get bit made things worse.

“Would making him eat garlic kill him?” Kai questions. “I don’t want him dead- he needs to suffer- but that seems like it would hurt him a lot.”

Oh  **_fuck_ ** no.

“It probably would.” Skylor frowns. “But just keeping it in his mouth might not.”

“ **_Or_ ** we could shove it up his ass.” Thankfully, that suggestion sounds like a joke, which is confirmed by the following laughter.

Jay and Nya exchange a glance. There’s something wrong with these two… 

“You could find something he cares about and take it from him.” Skylor suggests after she’s calmed down. 

The male demon frowns, glancing over at Jay. “Could you trick his mind into  **_thinking_ ** that I’m doing that?”

Skylor tilts her head. “I think so. What do you have in mind?”

By this point, Kai has finished filling his plate, and begins to get another- likely for Jay. 

The crimson-haired demon begins to get her own food, still looking at her friend for an answer.

Zane walks back in then, putting the rest of the meal on the table before sitting down next to Nya.

Kai glances over to the human again. “He, uh, well… he likes Jay.”

Oh. Oh no. He better not be planning to use their friendship to hurt the vampire… 

“Likes or  **_likes_ ** ?”

The Red Ninja hesitates. “Could we, uh… could we talk about it later?” He glances over at his boyfriend yet again.

“Sure.” Skylor agrees with a shrug.

The rest of the meal is spent in silence. Every once in a while, Jay thinks he might want to speak, but each time, he decides against it. It’s not worth the risk.

Kai is the first to finish eating, followed by Skylor, then Zane. 

Neither Nya nor Jay clear their plates.

The angel mumbles an excuse too quiet to hear and leaves. Zane goes not long later, and Skylor leaves at about the same time.

Another minute passes.

“Bluejay? Are you okay?” Kai looks over his boyfriend, visible concern on his face.

Uh, no. No he is not, thanks for asking.

“I’m fine.” The human lies, crossing his arms.

The demon hesitates, clearly trying to think of what he should say. “Have- have you thought about what kind of immortal you want to be?” He tries.

“No.” The young adult turns away, refusing to even look at his boyfriend.

“Bluejay, please. Cole almost  **_killed_ ** you, I can’t let him get away with something like that!” Kai explains, finally addressing the actual issue.

“If you hadn’t been  **_starving_ ** him, then none of this would’ve happened!” Jay snaps.

Oh.

Oh no.

There’s a tense pause between them. The air is heavy, and the human waits for a response with bated breath.

He risks a glance at the demon, and finds a stony expression on his boyfriend’s face. There’s a hard look in his eyes, and a calloused tone in his next words.

“Jay, look at me.”

Doing his best not to tremble, the young adult turns to look Kai in his now amber eyes.

“I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. The only reason I hurt Cole to begin with was because he was interfering in our relationship. I just want what’s best for you. I’ve kept him alive so far because I know he makes you happy. But I will  **_not_ ** tolerate him hurting you. He was down there because he thought he could manipulate you. I won’t let that happen. I need you to understand that I’m acting in your best interests here. You understand that, right?” 

Jay gives a shaky nod. He has to agree, has to make Kai believe that he’s really in love with him, no matter what the cost. Lives are at stake, and he needs to keep it together. The fate of Ninjago hangs in the balance.

The demon sighs, more emotion in his voice. “I’m sorry, okay? I know that this is frustrating. But I don’t want to lose you. I  **_won’t_ ** lose you. And I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that you’re by my side. Even-“ He hesitates a moment. “I- Jay-“ A conflicted expression is on his face, and he sighs once again, running a hand over his face. 

“I know that I’m being selfish here. You deserve a lot more than what I can give you. But I can’t lose anyone else. I- I  **_can’t_ ** . I can’t lose you, Bluejay. You mean too much to me. It’s just- I’m just trying to-“ He groans, leaning back in his seat. 

“I’m scared, okay? I’m scared. I don’t want to be alone, and I don’t know what to do anymore. You’re under a love potion and none of this is real, but- I need it. I can’t handle being alone. I need you. And I won’t let anything take you away from me.”

Jay hesitates. How the fuck is he supposed to respond to that?

He’s not sure, so instead of trying to fumble his way around with words, he gets up from his seat and sits in his boyfriend’s lap, wrapping him in a hug as he tries to calm his racing heart.

“You won’t lose me.” The human lies. “I- I’ll-“ He hesitates a moment, debating what he should say. 

“I’ll let you make me immortal.”


	13. Shit Goes Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai.... uh. Does not have a good time. Neither does Jay. 
> 
> And hmmm... something suspicious starts to unravel... 
> 
> (Lol sorry for not updating I got really excited about one of my other fics and kinda forgot about this one... oops)

They sit there for a while, and eventually, Zane returns. “We have a visitor.” He informs the demon.

“A- a visitor?” Kai frowns. “Who?”

“I believe it would be best if you came outside to speak with them.” The Nindroid dodges the question, and Jay suddenly realizes something.

He was unconscious for two days. Lloyd was going to get the crystals. It’s possible that the angel has returned.

Kai narrows his eyes. “Who’s the visitor?” He repeats, suspicion in his voice. “Do I know them?”

Zane doesn’t answer, he just turns and walks out of the room, which further confirms that it’s Lloyd.

Jay gets up from the demon’s lap. “You- you should probably go check that out.” He prompts.

Hesitantly, the immortal nods. “Okay.” He agrees. “I’ll- I’ll do that.”

So Kai heads off, and for a moment, Jay just sits there, unsure of what to do.

A minute ticks by, and the human gets to his feet, about to make his way down to the dungeons to see Cole-

But just then, the vampire pops his head into the room. “He’s here. Time to move.” He prompts, gesturing for Jay to follow him.

The young adult blinks, resisting the urge to question him, and lets the immortal lead him through the mansion until they exit near the garden- which is odd, because Jay hadn’t realized that there was a door back here. 

They start making their way around the side of the building, and Jay finally bursts. “I’m assuming that the  _ ‘he’ _ you mentioned is Lloyd? He’s back? Did he get the crystals? What are we going to do about Skylor? And- hey, why didn’t Zane take the vengestone collar off of you? Isn’t he-“

“Jay, we don’t have time for this.” Cole groans. “Lloyd’s back with the crystals, Zane and I took care of Skylor, and we need to move quickly. Now come on.”

“... what about the collar?”

The vampire sighs. “It’s- I- c’mon, we need to move.”

So Jay shuts his mouth and lets Cole lead him to the front of the fortress.

Kai stands face-to-face with Lloyd, the angel with a shiny clear gem in his hand, holding it up high so it catches the light. Nya is off to the side, glancing between the two of them.

The demon seems wary, unsure of what he should do. He opens his mouth to speak, but he doesn’t get the chance.

Zane jumps out of a window and lands behind the spiky-haired immortal, knocking his feet out from under him. 

He- he jumped out of a window? Uh… okay? That’s… that’s one way to do it.

Cole quickly rushes over to the two and helps the Nindroid pin the demon to the ground- but Jay knows from the previous fights that they won’t be able to keep a hold on him for very long.

Fortunately, it looks like they won’t need very long, because Lloyd quietly chants something, and the gem starts to draw an orange light from Kai.

The demon thrashes, trying to throw off his captors, but to no avail. After what feels like an eternity, the flow of power stops, and the gem in Lloyd’s hand flickers with amber light.

Cole and Zane release Kai, getting up. The immortal looks panicked, almost horrified.

The expression intensifies when his eyes land on Jay.

“Bluejay?” Glossy tears start to form in the demon’s eyes. “You- you were helping them?”

The heartbreak in his voice is real, and Jay finds himself unable to make eye contact. “I broke free from the love potion.” He explains. “I’m- I’m sorry.”

And he is. He didn’t want to lead Kai on like this. He didn’t want to trick him. But he didn’t have a choice. He had to play the part in order to-

“With that out of the way, we can now move on to more pressing matters.” Zane takes the crystal from Lloyd and pockets it. “That is, once we determine what we will do with him. It is possible to kill a demon in such a way that they do not reform.”

Kai’s breathing catches, and the panic on his face gets even worse.

Jay and Nya speak in unison. “No.”

The others turn to look at them. “No?” Lloyd questions, a hand coming up to brush up against his burn scars. “What do you mean,  _ ‘no’ _ ?”

“We’re not going to kill him.” Nya’s voice is firm. “He has some issues, but right now he’s just about harmless. I’ll take care of him.”

Cole narrows his eyes. “He tortured me on  **_three_ ** separate occasions.” The vampire points out.

“Look, he’s an asshole. No arguments there. But I don’t want to be responsible for someone  **_dying_ ** .” Jay interjects.

The angel and vampire hesitate, exchanging a glance.

“I… okay.” Cole caves, looking down. “But if he escapes-“

“He won’t.” Nya promises. “I’ll keep him in check.”

Jay knows that Kai is still staring at him with that broken expression, but he can’t bring himself to look. God, he feels like an asshole. Why does doing the right thing make him feel like an asshole?

Lloyd nods his agreement, but he still looks uncomfortable. “Just keep him away from me, okay? I don’t want to see him any more than I have to.”

Zane stays quiet, watching this interaction with interest. After a few moments pause, he speaks up. “I will hide the crystal in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.” He assures. “I will return shortly.” 

And with that, the Nindroid walks off, leaving the other four to their own devices. 

There’s a beat of silence between them.

“Can someone get this collar off me?” Cole glances at the others. “It's really itchy. And also, y’know, it kinda blocks my powers.”

Lloyd nods. “We’ll get it off. For now, let’s go inside.” He glances over at Kai with an apprehensive expression before walking into the mansion.

Nya helps the demon to his feet and starts to walk him towards the door. Jay sticks close to Cole, putting the vampire between him and Kai.

Thankfully, the immortal seems to notice this, and grabs the young adult’s hand in order to give it a reassuring squeeze.

Kai growls at Cole, but Nya gives him a sharp look, and he quickly quiets. 

Jay squeezes the vampire’s hand back, looking away as he does his best not to think of anything. Not going to think about how he betrayed Kai, not going to think about how nice it is to hold Cole’s hand, not going to think about how they still need to take down the Overlord, he’s just going to have his brain  **_shut up_ ** for once and try not to freak out. 

Oh, who is he kidding? His brain doesn’t listen to him, it likes to make things as difficult as possible.

Meaning that yes, he’s freaking out. He tightens his grip on Cole as they walk through the mansion, eventually coming to the game room. 

Nya and Kai head off in a different direction, and so does Lloyd, meaning that the two of them are left alone- though hopefully someone will return to get the vengestone off.

He realizes that he’s still holding Cole’s hand and glances at the vampire’s face, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Rather than bothered, he looks concerned.

“How are you feeling?”

Jay snorts. “Shouldn’t **_I_** be asking **_you_** that? Kai’s been a real bastard lately.”

“But you still don’t want him dead.” Cole notes. Thankfully, he doesn’t sound upset about it.

The human looks away, but doesn’t move his hand. “No, I don’t.” He confirms.

He waits for the vampire to question him about the decision, but he doesn’t, instead choosing to change the subject. “Wanna play some more Assassin’s Creed?” 

Jay blinks. “Sure.” He agrees. “Maybe this time you can actually complete more than two missions in a row before getting slaughtered.” 

“Hey!” Cole squawks, slapping his free hand over his chest over-dramatically. “I got through  **_three_ ** before I got slaughtered.”

Jay laughs as they boot up the game, and unfortunately, Cole has to let go of him in order to properly hold on to the controller. 

The young adult doesn’t comment on it- because it doesn’t bother him. He’s not unhappy that he has to let go. It’s not a problem.

The vampire seems to think differently than what he’s trying to convince himself of, and scooches closer to Jay, close enough that they’re touching.

And no matter what anyone says, Jay absolutely **_does_** **_not_** lean into the touch. 

… okay, maybe he does, but it’s only because he was worried about Cole and what Kai had been doing to him. That’s it. 

And it’s  **_not_ ** because he’s seeking comfort from the way he betrayed Kai. That doesn’t play a factor in it. Nope. Not the slightest bit.

He tries to focus on the game, he really does, but he just can’t keep his mind on it- his thoughts keep drifting off to one of the things he’s trying not to think about- how close he is to Cole, how they still need to save Ninjago, how betrayed and hurt Kai must be.

Cole seems to notice this, and he pauses the game. “Jay?” He questions. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.” The human lies, shifting some. He glances off to the side- and that means he doesn’t see it coming when Cole tries to reassuringly put a hand on his shoulder.

Now, it’s not that he has trouble with contact- he’s practically cuddling the vampire!- it’s just that it’s unexpected, and it’s happening while he’s thinking about Kai, meaning it drags him right back into the memories.

Jay flinches as he draws back, pushing away in order to put as much space between him and Cole as he can.

Then everything registers, and he remembers what’s going on. 

He’s safe. It’s okay. Cole wouldn’t do anything like that to him. Cole is his  **_friend_ ** .

He risks a glance at the vampire, and almost winces at the hurt expression. But it fades, replaced by concern. “You’re not fine.” He concludes. 

“Yes I am.” Jay mumbles weakly, curling into a ball. He wraps his arms around himself, hoping that maybe he can calm his racing heart.

“No, you’re not.” Cole shakes his head. He studies the young adult for a moment with a cautious expression, clearly worried about setting him off.

Jay doesn’t like it. He doesn’t want to be treated like he’s fragile. He doesn’t want any pity- he doesn’t even want to think about the circumstances that led him to this position in the first place.

_ ‘ “Made for me. Perfect for me. My cock stretching you out, you take me so well, doing so good for me.” ‘ _

_ ‘ “Scream on my cock, fuck, scream loud enough for all of Ninjago to hear you, to know you’re  _ **mine** _.” ‘ _

The human winces at the memories. No, much better to ignore it, to just forget, not think about it. 

“Don’t wanna talk.” He mumbles. “Push play.”

“Jay-“

“ **_Don’t wanna talk_ ** .” Jay snarls- but then he quiets. “Cole, I- really, I don’t want to talk about it. Could- could we just go back to the game? Please?” 

The vampire looks away with a sigh. “Okay.” He agrees, pushing play. “We can do that.”

Jay hesitates from his spot on the far end of the couch. He doesn’t want to be touched right now- but at the same time, he wants the comfort of a hug.

Why is everything so confusing? Can’t he just get  **_five minutes_ ** of peace?  **_Please?!_ **

After a few minutes of gameplay, he makes up his mind, and scooches back over to Cole, leaning his head on the vampire’s shoulder.

It- it’ll be okay.

It has to be.

_ ‘ “Bluejay? You- you were helping them?” ‘ _

No, he  **_hates_ ** Kai, the demon is the bane of his existence! Jay doesn’t care about his feelings!

The human sighs and redirects his attention to the game. 

He can deal with his emotions later. For now, he just wants to relax.

He’s earned that much, hasn’t he?


	14. Stop Lying!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai says “YEET!“

Apparently, he has  **_not_ ** earned a chance to relax. 

Because thirty minutes later, no one had returned to take the collar off. So the vampire and human ventured off to look for Lloyd.

Only to find the angel laying in a pool of his own blood, his eyes glassy, breathing heavy, and the blood-  **_god_ ** , the blood.

There’s just  **_so much of it_ ** . Jay can’t fathom how someone could lose so much and still be alive! 

It stains green fabric and pale skin, marring the lighter colors with dark crimson. It pools on the ground, a large puddle forming as it drains from the horrible wounds on Lloyd’s torso. It’s a ghastly sight, and when combined with the coppery scent, it’s everything Jay can do to not vomit.

Which brings them to now. 

For a moment, the two just stand there, horrified by the scene in front of them. 

Then Cole rushes beside the angel, checking for a pulse. “Lloyd?” He questions, voice panicked. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“... stone. Stone- here?” The blond chokes out. “Crystals… Overlord. Powers… stealing. Bad. Zane- Zane? Crystals. Kai- plan. This- had- had this plan the whole time.” 

“Lloyd? Lloyd, I don’t know what that means, I need you to- Lloyd?  **_Lloyd_ ** ?!” Cole’s voice rises in pitch and volume when the angel goes limp, eyes closing.

Jay stares in horror. Did he just- he didn’t just-

“Still has a pulse.” Cole breathes, clearly relieved. “But I don’t think he’ll be waking up anytime soon.” 

The young adult glances around nervously. “He said something about stone being here. You don’t think he means-“

“The Stone Army.” Cole’s eyes widen. “And he mentioned stealing powers and Kai having a plan. You don’t think…” The vampire trails off, looking over to Jay.

There’s a pause, the two of them staring at each other in horror.

“We need to get Lloyd to the medbay. Zane-  **_shit_ ** , Zane left to hide the crystal!” Cole swears. “Okay, this is fine, we take him to the medbay and see if Nya can help. Then the two of us can try and get information out of Kai.” 

Jay nods his approval. “Let’s move.”

So Cole takes Lloyd to the medical wing while Jay runs off to find the red siblings.

When he rushes into the room that they’re in- a different living room that Jay thinks he might’ve seen once or twice beforehand- the two of them start, looking at him in surprise.

“Wha-“

“Lloyd’s in the medbay, and Cole and I don’t know jack about medical things.” He cuts Nya off, looking at her in desperation as he tries to catch his breath.

The angel immediately jumps to her feet. “Lead the way.” She prompts.

Jay hesitates. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going!” He admits. “I don’t know-“

“Medbay, you said?” Kai stands up, but his demeanor is calm, much unlike the atmosphere of panic. “Follow me.”

So the two follow the demon through the fortress, prompting him to go faster. Reluctantly, he does, quickening his pace.

Still, it takes longer than he would have liked to reach Lloyd. 

When they enter the room, Nya immediately starts to gather medical supplies, shoving Cole to the side. “Out.” She demands. “I need to concentrate.”

So the three of them leave, going just slightly down the hall and into another room.

As soon as they’re alone, Cole slams Kai into a wall. “What’s your plan?”

The demon blinks. “Huh?” 

“Lloyd said that you planned this, that you had this planned out all along. What’s the plan? What are you trying to do?” The vampire snarls.

Kai glances over to Jay, and the human does his best to look intimidating- but in all honesty, it’s probably not working. 

“ **_ANSWER ME_ ** !” Cole yells in that soul-shattering voice.

Jay flinches at it, resisting the urge to clamp his hands over his ears and run away screaming. 

Kai noticeably shudders, but after a moment, he regains his composure. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He lies, having the nerve to sound somewhat offended. “Why would I have planned to lose my powers?! Whatever’s going on, I had nothing to do with it!”

“ **_Bullshit_ ** !” Cole growls, pressing him more into the wall. “Lloyd said that-“

“Well then Lloyd was wrong!” Kai snaps. He attempts to cross his arms, but his shoulders are kept pinned. He looks over at Jay again, his features in a sharp glare. The human draws back some, remembering the similar expression that the demon had worn right before he- right before-

“ **_Eyes on me_ ** .” Cole switches from using two hands- instead using his forearm to pin down his shoulders- in order to use one to redirect Kai’s face, forcing him to look him in the eyes.

Kai knees the vampire in the crotch.

Cole’s grip loosens for a moment, and the demon takes the opportunity to tackle him, attempting to pin the vampire down.

Cole retaliates, punching Kai in the face. The demon flinches backwards, and the vampire uses his momentum to push Kai flat on his back, forcing him to lay on the floor. 

The demon struggles, desperately attempting to free himself. 

“You rely on your powers too much.” The vampire comments with narrowed eyes. “Now that you’re without them, you can’t do shit. So I recommend that you cut it out.”

Kai continues to struggle for a moment before he stills, letting himself be held down without resistance. 

“What. Is. Your. Plan?” Cole demands. 

“I don’t have one!” Kai insists, a touch of anger in his voice. “There is no fucking plan! Not on my end, anyway! So whatever you think is going on? It’s  **_bullshit_ ** !”

“Stop lying!” 

“ **_I’M NOT LYING_ ** !” Kai shouts. Somehow, he manages to wiggle free from Cole’s grasp, and he backs himself into a corner of the room, seeing as it’s the only place that he can go.

Jay just watches this, unsure of what he should do. 

Cole gets up and takes a step closer to Kai, a menacing aura radiating off of him. “Then what  **_was_ ** Lloyd talking about? Who’s plan is it, huh?”

Kai- he looks  **_scared_ ** . It’s an emotion that Jay hasn’t seen on him very much- an emotion that doesn’t seem to suit him. 

As if realizing this himself, the demon shakes his head for a second before puffing out his chest and crossing his arms. “I don’t know, but it sure as Hell isn't me. Now if you would kindly fuck off, that would be great.”

Jay knows without even having to think about it that it’s a facade. It’s just Kai not wanting to look weak- he’s flat out  **_terrified_ ** .

He should be enjoying it- the immortal had put him through so much trauma and left him in terror so many times- but for better or worse, he’s too empathetic for that. 

**_Ugh_ ** . Emotions suck.

Cole doesn’t seem to like Kai’s answer, and he takes another step forward, boxing him in. “Yeah, I’m not buying that.” He scoffs. 

The demon glares. “Why would I plan to lose my powers?” He demands. “It doesn’t make any sense! And you know damn well that I don’t do plans.  **_Zane’s_ ** the one who does all that smart shit.”

Jay is suddenly struck by a thought. Judging from Cole’s expression and the way he glances back at the human, he’s realized the same thing.

_ ‘ “... stone. Stone- here? Crystals… Overlord. Powers… stealing. Bad. Zane- Zane? Crystals. Kai- plan. This- had- had this plan the whole time.” ‘ _

Lloyd had mentioned Zane, but he had sounded confused when he did. Could it be possible that he had a part in this?

“Zane left to hide the crystal.” Cole‘s eyes widen in shock. “What if he’s not hiding it? What if-“

The door is knocked down, and all three of them spin to face it, only to be greeted with a Stone Army warrior.

**_Shit_ ** .

Lloyd had said that they were here, and they completely ignored his warning in favor of focusing on Kai!  **_God_ ** , they’re so  **_stupid_ ** !

Jay stumbles back- and not a moment too soon, because a blade swings through where he was standing a moment before. 

Cole steps forward and shoves Jay behind him, making the human fall backwards onto Kai. The demon catches him, but Jay is quick to push himself out of his arms. Nope, he does  **_not_ ** want to touch him, or even stand this close to him! 

Kai puts himself in front of the young adult, standing beside Cole, and he begins to help the vampire fend off the warrior.

And then several more step in.

“The fu- how are these guys so strong?!” Cole huffs, skidding back a little as he blocks a blow. Then he glances back at the human. “Jay, get out of here!” He orders.

“How?!” Jay protests, looking around. The only door is blocked by the Stone Army warriors, how is he supposed to get out?! Sure, there are windows, but they’re up so high that he would just splat against the ground in a bloody mess.

“Jump!” Kai leaves Cole’s side for a minute to open a window and pull Jay towards it.

“ **_What_ ** ?! I’m not an immortal! I’ll  **_die_ ** !” Jay protests, horrified. 

“Summon your dragon!” The demon shouts. “You just need to not be afraid!”

“How am I supposed to not be afraid?!” Jay screeches. “I won’t survive a drop like that!”

“Not with that attitude you won’t!” Kai starts to fend off a warrior who managed to get past Cole, and it’s clear that the vampire won’t be able to add to the conversation, too wrapped up the fight to suggest anything.

“Take a deep breath and calm down! You’ll be fine!” Kai assures him. He pushes the warrior back in order to move closer to Jay, and-

“ **_WAIT_ ** -“ The human screeches, but it’s too late.

Kai throws him out the window.

**_What._ **

**_The._ **

**_Fuck._ **


	15. Mortal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is so late but in my defense I got a tumblr and became obsessed.

Jay flails his arms around as he falls, screaming incoherently.

“ **_I don’t wanna die_ ** !” He manages to screech out a coherent thought- one that will likely be his last.

Time seems to slow, the air suddenly becoming heavy, and-

Wait. Time’s not slowing. The air is… stopping his fall? 

Somehow, the wind catches him, and it rights him, letting him land softly on his feet.

What- what just happened?! How- he’s not dead?! Not that he’s complaining, but how the fuck is he not dead?!

Out of the blue, a familiar someone appears in front of him, right in his face. “You said I wouldn’t die!” 

Jay blinks, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. “Wha- Morro?!” 

“Yeah, hi, good to see you. What the fuck is going on?” The ghost demands angrily.

“Kai’s a bastard, but what else is new?” Jay gives a nervous laugh, heart still beating a mile per minute. “But, uh… Lloyd said that you didn’t make it.”

“I’m fine, but no thanks to  **_him_ ** !” Morro crosses his arms, looking off to the side. 

Jay nods, still processing what just happened. “Okay, okay, just… one second. I was just thrown out of a window.”

The ghost nods, and the human takes the opportunity to catch his breath. 

After about a minute, he manages to regain his bearings. “Kai and Cole are surrounded by Stone Army warriors.” 

“Good for them, but I’m not getting involved in that shit again. I barely made it out the last time you talked me into it.” Morro glares.

“But-“

“ **_No_ ** . I’m not getting involved again, and there’s nothing you can do to change my mind this time!” Morro insists, turning around. But he pauses for a moment, and then, with a heavy groan, he turns back to face Jay. “... I  **_do_ ** have some information that could help. But you didn’t hear it from me, okay? I don’t want any part in your revolution.”

Jay quickly nods. If Morro has information, that could be valuable- even if the ghost doesn’t help them in combat, even just hints of what’s going on could make enough of a difference to change the tide in this upcoming war.

“Zane doesn’t work for Kai- he never has. He works for the Overlord. This whole thing was a set up- they’re planning to take  **_everyone’s_ ** elemental powers, including Kai’s.”

“They already got his…” Jay whispers to himself, feeling horror start to settle inside him. Zane must’ve taken the crystal straight to the Overlord!

“The Overlord’s whole plan was to infect people with Dark Matter so that no one would be able to resist him- it’s hard to fight back if you can’t even think.” 

That… makes a lot of sense. Not only is he turning everyone evil, he’s turning them into his slaves because of it!

“Now that he has Lloyd’s power, he has Golden Power, and when you combine that with his own abilities, he’s already nearly unbeatable. But if he gets everyone’s elemental powers…” Morro trails off.

“Nothing will be able to stop him.” Jay finishes.

_ ‘ “... stone. Stone- here? Crystals… Overlord. Powers… stealing. Bad. Zane- Zane? Crystals. Kai- plan. This- had- had this plan the whole time.” ‘ _

… holy shit.

Morro nods. “You didn’t hear this from me.” He repeats. “As a matter of fact, you didn’t even see me. I’m dead. Not even in this realm as a ghost, I’m  **_dead_ ** dead. Got it?” 

Jay nods. “Got it.” He confirms. 

He’s about to say more, but his attention is caught by sudden loud screaming from above. Both him and Morro look up, just in time to see Kai falling. But before either of them have the chance to do anything about it- though what Jay could do, he has no idea- Cole, who he actually didn’t realize was falling beside Kai, grabs the demon and summons his dragon, landing peacefully beside the ghost and human.

The demon throws himself from Cole’s grasp, stumbling and landing on his butt on the ground. “ **_What the fuck, Cole_ ** ?!” 

“We needed to get away.” The vampire shrugs, the dragon beneath him vanishing. He lands easily on his feet, and Kai scrambles to get to his.

Jay blinks as he realizes that the vengestone collar isn’t on him anymore, but when he spots the Stone Army sword in his hand, he realizes that the vampire must have cut it off. The material they use is ridiculously strong.

The demon- wait. Is Kai even still a demon? How much of his powers were based on that? Did the crystal take that away, too? Based on how he seemed to think the fall could kill him, it might have done that.

… that’s not good- they’re going to need all the help they can get to defeat the Overlord- but that’s assuming that Kai would even be  **_willing_ ** to help.

The former Master of Fire is breathing heavily, panic starting to fade from his features. But then his expression switches to one of shock. “ **_Morro_ ** ?!” He yells. “You’re alive?!”

“Not so loud!” The ghost snaps, looking around fearfully. “I’m supposed to be dead!”

“Damn right you are! I thought I killed you! How did you-“

Morro’s expression switches to murderous, and Kai suddenly seems to remember his newly gained mortality.

Speaking of which, Jay should probably ask about it.

“Did- did the crystal steal your immortality?” He questions.

Kai gives a hesitant nod, still watching Morro carefully.

The ghost turns to face Jay. “They already got his powers?” 

Cole nods. “Last I saw the crystal, Zane had it- and I’m pretty sure that he has some bigger role in this.”

Right. They don’t know.

Jay turns to ask Morro if he can explain, but the ghost is gone- likely having turned invisible. So he takes a deep breath, turning to the others.

“Alright, let me tell you what I learned from- er, what I figured out with absolutely no help from anyone, especially not Morro.”

“Explain on the way- we need to go get Nya and Lloyd.” Cole jumps and summons his dragon, helping Jay onto it.

* * *

Kai is  **_livid_ ** when he finds out that the Overlord used him. Which Jay probably should’ve been expecting, but for some reason he wasn’t.

He does his best to ignore the anger that’s radiating off of him, but it’s difficult. Typically Kai being angry led to someone getting hurt, so it’s going to take some adjusting before the demon- uh… the  **_ex_ ** -demon’s anger doesn’t strike fear into him.

Jay shakes his head and redirects his thoughts.

When they reach the room, it’s empty- no Nya, no Lloyd, no Stone Army.

That seems like a bad sign.

Cole helps him through the window as the dragon hovers outside. He’s not nearly as gentle with Kai, who he practically  **_throws_ ** inside, before heading in himself, dragon vanishing as he pulls himself through the window.

“Hello?” The vampire calls, looking around. There’s a twinge of unease in his voice, and he exchanges a glance with Jay.

Silence is the only reply.

“Is anyone there?” Cole tries. He takes a step forward, grip on his sword tightening as he puts himself between Jay and whatever may lie ahead.

Kai is quite obviously still angry, glaring at the wall like it’s personally offended him. After another beat of silence, he speaks, his voice filled with rage. “COME OUT AND FACE ME YOU FUCKING-“

Cole clamps a hand over his mouth. “Don’t.” He warns lowly, a threat in his tone.

Kai pushes his hand away. “You were just doing the same thing!” He protests. 

“I wasn’t  **_threatening_ ** anyone!” The vampire argues. 

The door slowly creaks open some.

“Guys…?” Jay watches it fearfully.

“You were calling them, just like I was! I don’t see how there’s a difference!” Kai crosses his arms defiantly.

“Guys.” Jay speaks up louder as the door continues to move. He can’t see what’s on the other side, and that’s only making his mind race wildly, trying to picture what’s awaiting them.

“You were making a threat, we have no idea what’s out there! Sure, it could be the Stone Army, but we don’t know for sure what else is in here!”

“ **_Guys_ ** .” Jay repeats. The door is  **_still_ ** moving, albeit slowly. 

“What else could there be?! No one is stupid enough to just waltz in here, and that’s if there was someone unaffected by Dark Matter!” 

The door slams the rest of the way open, and the others  **_finally_ ** notice it. 

Lloyd, still heavily injured, is standing there, leaning against the doorframe. “I know what’s going on. Zane tried to stop me by sending in the Stone Army, but-“ He cuts himself off with a few sharp coughs that send blood dripping down his face.

“We know too.” Jay assures, rushing over to the angel. But once he gets closer, he’s struck by something. His eyes widen as he realizes it.

Lloyd’s wings are gone.

“Your wings.” Kai breathes. Jay isn’t facing him, but he can hear the shock in his voice, and even though Cole hasn’t spoken, he’s likely in a similar state of dismay.

Lloyd gives a weak, pained smile. “Doesn’t make too much of a difference. The Overlord took my powers, remember? I was already mortal.” He wipes at the blood in an attempt to clean it off, but it only smears it around. 

“Where’s Nya?” Kai suddenly demands.

Lloyd’s face falls.

Kai is across the room in a heartbeat, pinning the injured angel- er, the newly turned mortal- against the doorframe he was leaning on. “ **_Where’s Nya_ ** ?” He repeats.

“I tried to stop them-“

“I don’t care what you failed at,  **_WHERE IS SHE_ ** ?!” Kai yells.

Cole rushes across the room and pulls the spiky haired brunet away from the ex-angel. “Calm down.” He orders.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down!” Kai snaps with a raised voice. “I want to know what happened to my sister!”

“They took her.” Lloyd admits miserably. “Last I saw her, she was unconscious and being dragged away by the Stone Army.”

Kai’s eyes are wide, his outrage replaced with horror. His body’s tension leaves, but it’s still clear that he’s upset. “What?” He whispers.

“I’m sorry.” Lloyd looks down- but then loses his grip on the door, and falls to the ground. Jay immediately drops to his knees beside him.

Honestly, it’s hard to tell what injuries are from Kai from the ones that the Stone Army gave him from the ones he may have gotten when he fell just now.

… he’s really been through some shit.

“You really need medical attention.” Jay glances back at Cole. None of them are any good at healing, and it’s likely that Lloyd will die if he doesn’t get any help.

There’s silence as all of them come to the same realizations of what the situation has become. But in the end, it’s Jay who speaks up.

“... now what?”


	16. Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I need to work on my other stories lol, but I got too caught up in this one.

“There’s a portal to heaven?!” Cole yells, staring at Kai and Lloyd in shock. And in all honesty, Jay’s feeling the same. Since when did  **_that_ ** exist?!

“At the top of the Wailing Alps.” Lloyd confirms.

Kai frowns. “I thought it was at the Temple of Light?”

The ex-demon had calmed some- or more accurately, hit an emotional breaking point where he just feels numb, like how Jay had felt when he discovered that Kai was alive. Or at least, that’s what Jay’s guessing. There’s no way he actually calmed down this fast.

“They moved it after you, uh… lost your wings.” Lloyd seems cautious, afraid to say something that might set Kai off.

“First things first; we need to get you to a hospital.” Cole decides, looking over the ex-angel’s extensive injuries.

“Everyone’s been infected with Dark Matter.” Kai reminds. “The best solution would be to take him to where the Overlord can’t go. To take him to-“

“I don’t care what the circumstances are, you are not going to heaven.” Lloyd interjects.

“You’ll die if we don’t.” Kai points out smugly.

Jay glances between them, trying to process the crazy shit that’s going on. Going to heaven? That’s impossible! Even knowing the location of the portal wouldn’t make it any easier to actually get in, it’s supposed to be unreachable to mortals!

“Even if I  **_was_ ** willing to take you there, you have to be an immortal to open it. Neither of us qualify anymore. You should know that.” Lloyd glares.

Kai overdramatically gestures at Cole. “Immortal.” He declares. “Let’s go.”

“I’m not taking you to heaven, and that’s final!” Lloyd attempts to stand up- probably to look more intimidating- but he slips in his own blood and falls on his butt.

Jay winces. “Lloyd, you’ll  **_die_ ** .”

Lloyd shakes his head stubbornly. “No.” He insists.

“Yeah, look.” Cole crouches down in front of him. “This isn’t optional. You’re either going to show us the way, or we’ll find it ourselves while we drag you along.”

“I’m not taking  **_him_ ** into a place of purity!” The ex-angel snaps.

Jay can feel the tension radiating off of Kai. He looks like he’s seconds away from  **_snapping_ ** and going absolutely  **_feral_ ** .

Taking a deep breath, Jay tries again. “Lloyd. If you die, who will defeat the Overlord? You’re the Green Ninja, we  **_need_ ** you alive.” 

Lloyd hesitates a moment. “I- okay.” He caves, a pained look on his face.

“Okay.”

  
  


* * *

The Wailing Alps are  **_freezing_ ** . Lloyd had warned them that it would be cold, and had had them all grab layers upon layers. 

Jay’s wearing a ski mask, goggles, two heavy coats, snow pants, warm climbing boots,  **_and_ ** insulated mittens.

He still feels like he’s about to freeze to death.

Kai is bundled up even more than he is, and he seems  **_exhausted_ ** . It’s probably because he’s so used to being a demon that he’s having a hard time functioning as a mortal.

Lloyd is protected against the cold as well, and he’s being carried by Cole, who’s wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a light jacket.

Looks like being a vampire gives him temperature immunity. 

Lucky.

It takes them  **_hours_ ** to reach the summit- how many, Jay’s not sure, but it was a little after mid-day when they left, and by the time they’re at the top, the moon is directly overhead.

So, yeah, it took a while.

“I can’t feel my face.” The young adult complains, shivering. And he can’t. It’s absolutely  **_freezing_ ** up here. Which is probably why they put the portal here, no one would climb this mountain unless they already knew it was here.

“Alright, we’re here.” Cole looks at Lloyd, who’s barely conscious at this point. “What now?” 

“There’s magic code words.” The ex-angel murmurs. “Kai knows them.”

Right. The cold probably isn’t helping him handle the pain of his injuries. Honestly, it’s a miracle that he hasn’t died already.

Kai nods. “Alright. Repeat after me.” He then proceeds to speak a bunch of gibberish that Jay can’t even begin to understand. 

Luckily, it seems Cole does, because he speaks it back perfectly.

The portal that appears is gold and white, and it shimmers, almost as though it’s a mirage.

Cole glances at Kai. “And we just walk in?”

The ex-demon nods. “Since you’re the one who opened it, it’ll close once you walk through.” He explains. “So Jay and I will have to go first.”

And with that, he steps through the portal and vanishes.

Jay takes a deep breath. Okay. Okay. It’s time. He’s going to walk into heaven. Just- he’s just going to walk in. Through a magic portal. This-

He forces himself to stop thinking and just  **_act_ ** .

So, without giving himself a chance to work himself up more, he follows Kai, stepping inside.

His vision goes white, and he’s unable to see the world around him. It’s warm, unlike the surrounding mountain. He feels almost as though he’s standing under a waterfall as something rushes around him.

And then his sight clears, and he looks around. Surprisingly, it doesn’t look at all like it’s depicted in scriptures. It’s not made of clouds, and it’s definitely not high in the sky.

Instead, they’re in the middle of a forest. It’s a pretty forest, he’ll give it that. Yet it doesn’t feel quite like the place of purity that was always described.

But judging from Kai’s expression of pure glee, they’re definitely in the right place. 

“Home sweet home.” The demon murmurs to himself, starting to take off the heavy layers.

Jay feels himself sweating heavily, and mimics him until he’s wearing his casual clothes. He places them next to Kai’s, beside a tree.

Cole suddenly appears next to them, still holding Lloyd. “So this is heaven. Huh.” He looks around, seeming just as confused about it as Jay feels.

“C’mon, this way. There should be someone with healing magic farther in.” Kai explains cheerfully. 

Cole and Jay exchange a glance. The angels here probably aren’t going to take too kindly to a demon being here, past or not… 

But Kai doesn’t seem the slightest bit worried- in fact, he’s practically skipping as they go through the woods. His exhaustion from earlier is nowhere to be seen- he’s likely running on his excitement. 

They pass an angel, who just stares at them in shock, almost horror. The expression doesn’t fade when Kai waves at him cheerfully. “Karlof! Long time no see, huh?”

The angel just stands there, and they continue on their way to… wherever Kai’s taking them.

They head into a clearing, and it’s almost like a city! But everything is made of trees, almost like the stereotypical wood elf city would be.

Kai’s grin widens, and he runs up to one of the few angels who’s out in the open. She- okay, bright green hair. Sure. Why not? “Tox, good to see you!”

“ **_Kai_ ** ?!” The angel stares at him in shock. “How-“

“It’s a story, but have you seen Chamille? I’ve got Lloyd with me, and he’s pretty badly hurt, and last time I was here, she was starting to work on healing magic.” 

Tox nods, albeit shakily. “She’s- wait, Lloyd’s with you?”

Cole steps forward, and the ex-angel gives a weak peace song. “Hey.” He greets.

Tox blinks a few times. “Chamille’s at the Fire Temple.” 

Kai lights up even more. “Great! Thanks!” And with that, he skips off, still clearly excited.

Jay gives a small wave to the angel before they head off, hopefully to the Fire Temple.

And soon enough, they reach a volcano with a firey temple in front of it.

As soon as they step inside, Jay’s attention is immediately drawn by a large dragon in the center. 

Then it’s drawn by Cole’s loud, high pitched scream. “ **_The fuck is that_ ** ?!”

Kai laughs. “That’s Flame!” He explains, running up to the creature. It immediately gives Kai all of its attention, wings flapping.

“I missed you too!” 

Cole clears his throat. “Lloyd.” He reminds, still with a touch of fear in his voice, eyes never moving from the dragon.

At his name, he angel blearily looks around. Jay winces as he realizes that he’s getting worse- they don’t have time for lollygagging. 

Kai blinks, looking back at them. “Oh! Right. Sorry, I got distracted. Kinda forgot he was here.” 

He forgot he was here?! Lloyd’s the whole reason that they’re here in the first place, how did he just  **_forget_ ** ?!

The ex-demon stops messing with the dragon and looks around. “Chamille?” He calls. “You in here?”

Jay stares in horror as an exact copy of Kai steps out from around the dragon. Flame growls at fake Kai, and they back away to a safe distance. 

“How’d you get in here?” The copy questions, sounding annoyed rather than surprised.

“Why are you in my form?” Kai shoots back.

“You’re the only one Flame will let get close. Which is ruined now, by the way. Thanks for that.” With the words, the copy starts to shift, skin rippling as…  **_something_ ** happens.

And then an angel with shaggy purple hair is standing there, still with an annoyed expression.

Kai shrugs. “Not sorry. Anyway, how far did you get working on that healing magic?” 

“I gave up about a month in, why?”

The ex-demon curses under his breath. “Any suggestions for someone who can heal Lloyd without trying to kill me on sight?”

Chamille laughs. “Uh, Mistakè?” 

Kai facepalms. “FSM, I feel stupid now.” 

“Good. You are.” Cole grumbles. “Now let’s get moving. We need to-“

Kai holds up his hand. “Just a sec, I have an idea.” He turns back to Chamille. “Is my sword still here?”

“Flame won’t let anyone take it.” The purple-haired angel answers. “But I can’t let you walk out of here with a Golden Weapon.”

“This place has the Sword of Fire?!” Cole stares at them. 

Jay frowns. What’s the ‘Sword of Fire’? Well, it’s a Golden Weapon, apparently, but what’s a Golden Weapon?

Kai nods. “It’s mine. And if we’re gonna take down the Overlord, we’re going to need it.” 

Chamille arches an eyebrow. “You’re trying to take down the Overlord? What’s with the sudden change of heart?”

“Nya.” Kai explains. He doesn’t add on, but judging from the angel’s expression, she understands.

She sighs. “Alright. But if anyone asks, it wasn’t me who let you have it.” 

The ex-demon quickly nods and heads back over to Flame. “Hey there, buddy. You got my sword? Can I have it?”

Flame snorts and steps back, revealing a golden blade that he had been guarding.

Kai grins, picking it up. “Thanks! I’ll see you later!” 

“No you won’t. You’re not coming back here.” Lloyd mumbles, but it’s too soft for Kai to hear, given that he’s farther away than Jay is.

And with that, the ex-demon starts to lead them out of the temple. 

“Now we just need to find Mistakè.” He explains, slinging the sword across his back. Somehow, it stays there, despite the lack of sheathe.

They make it just outside, and start walking through the woods, only to run into another person- one who doesn’t have wings.

“Kai?” The old man questions, sounding shocked. “How-“

Lloyd suddenly shoved himself out of Cole’s arms, stumbling as he falls to his knees, unable to support his own weight. He looks up at the newcomer, his expression some mix of bewildered and elated. 

“Dad?”


	17. “You Don’t Even Know What It Is!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [laughs nervously] I have no idea what I’m doing anymore just take it

The old man stares at the ex-angel in shock. “Lloyd?!” 

“Dad!” Lloyd struggles to his feet, practically collapsing on the newcomer as he wraps him into a hug.

Jay blinks. This is Lloyd’s dad?! But he’s- he’s not an angel! He’s… **_human_ **.

How- that doesn’t make any sense!

Lloyd’s dad glares at Kai. “What have you done?” He questions, but he sounds more resigned than angry.

“I, uh… it’s complicated.” Kai laughs nervously. “The Overlord-“

“I know.” The man interrupts. “You made a deal. You became a demon. You allowed all of Ninjago to become corrupted by-“

“See, now I’m wondering why you asked. Sounds like you already knew the answer.”

With a huff, the weird not-angel brings Lloyd to the ground, starting to take off the layers in order to see the injured area beneath. “Who are your friends?” 

“Not his friends.” Cole glares at the ex-demon. “But my name is Cole, and this is Jay. And, uh, who are you, again?”

“You can call me Sensei Garmadon.” Lloyd’s dad finishes taking off the layers, and his eyes widen in shock as he takes in the injuries. 

He presses his hands against the wounds, and a golden glow begins to emit from them, lighting up the nearby area.

Jay frowns. What’s the light? Is it-

Before he has time to dwell on it, Cole answers the unspoken question. “Healing magic.” He explains. 

Then, fast as lightning, without giving anyone time to react, the vampire reaches over and snatches the gold katana away from Kai. “You’re not having this.”

“It’s mine!” Kai snaps, reaching for it. Cole holds it above his head, beyond where he can reach. 

That doesn’t stop the ex-demon from trying to reach it. “Gimme!” He demands, jumping upwards in an attempt to snag it.

“There’s no way in Hell that I’m going to let you run around with a Golden Weapon.” Cole scoffs. He simply moves his hand whenever Kai comes close, keeping the sword just out of his reach. 

“That’s not fair, you tall bastard-“

Jay glances between the two of them, and decides to go sit down next to Lloyd and Sensei Garmadon.

Doing his best to tune out the bickering, he directs his focus to the old man.

_‘ “Are you sure you are not human? You certainly act as though you are.”_

_“Uh. I’m- I’m_ **not** _human.” ‘_

Is it possible that the ex-angel is part human? 

“So, uh… you’re Lloyd’s dad?” Jay mentally facepalms as soon as the words leave his mouth. No, duh?

Sensei Garmadon nods, still focusing on the light beneath his palms. “Yes, I am. Is that so surprising?”

“Well, I mean, it’s just… you’re **_human_ **.” 

The Sensei pauses for a moment, but then laughs. “I’m mortal, not human.”

Jay frowns, tilting his head. “Huh?”

“It’s complicated, but I used to be part angel. Half angel- and half demon. Much like my brother. But unlike my brother, I was turned completely to darkness. For a period, I was fully a demon, working for the Overlord.” 

Jay blinks. “Wha- but- how did you become mortal? I mean, Kai did when his powers were taken away, but…” The human gestures at the healing magic that Sensei Garmadon is using.

Lloyd’s dad smiles. “My son.” He explains. “He has a unique ability- one to remove darkness. It’s his Golden Power, and-

“Yeah, uh, the Overlord stole that. And his wings. I’m sure you noticed the last one, but, uh-“

“The Overlord has his Golden Power?!”

“Y- yeah. He does.”

Sensei Garmadon curses under his breath. “How long ago did he get it?”

“About five… well, I think it might be closer to six days now.” Jay yawns. 

The Sensei opens his mouth to say something, but Lloyd speaks up first. “It’s been about six days.” He weakly confirms, but he sounds much stronger than he did a few minutes ago- definitely not on the brink of death anymore.

“You- you can stop with the healing magic, I’ll be fine now.” Lloyd glances over at Kai, who is still trying to get the golden sword from Cole.

“No.” His dad shakes his head. “You’re in no condition to be doing anything at the moment- I can’t let you run off until there’s actually color in your face.”

Lloyd sighs, but doesn’t attempt to get up. He keeps glancing over at Kai with a stressed expression, and honestly, Jay can’t blame him. The ex-demon is terrifying, with or without his immortality.

“What’s our next step going to be? We need to find a way to stop the Overlord before it’s too late.” Jay reminds. He looks to Sensei Garmadon. “Any ideas? I’m drawing a blank.”

“Before we do anything, I think the four of you need to get some sleep.” The Sensei decides. “We can come up with a plan later, and being dead on your feet won’t help anyone.”

Lloyd shakes his head. “The others can, but I need to keep-”

“No.” Garmadon interjects. “You are going to let me finish healing you, and then you’re going to get some sleep. We can come up with a plan later.”

Jay opens his mouth to reply, but his attention is drawn by a shout of “ **_Ha_ **! Got it!”

Looking over, he sees a triumphant Kai holding the Sword of Fire- only to be tackled by Cole as it’s wrestled from his grasp. The argument begins again, the two of them fighting over the blade.

Jay turns back to Sensei Garmadon. “What’s so important about that sword? Someone said that its the ‘Sword of FIre’ and a ‘Golden Weapon’, but I’m not sure what those things mean.”

The Sensei looks over, and his eyes widen. “Kai has the Sword of Fi- **_Kai_ **! Put that down!” 

Kai glances back at the sound of his name, and the distraction gives Cole the chance to yank the blade from his grip and get back to his feet. “You shouldn’t have this!” The vampire snaps.

“It’s **_mine_ **!” The ex-demon insists. “Give it back!”

Jay shifts awkwardly, unsure of what to do. This sword seems pretty important, but he has no idea why or what its capable of. Is it secretly a missile launcher of something? 

“That’s enough!” Garmadon snaps, releasing the magic flow into Lloyd. He gets up from the ground and glares at the two of them. “Kai, give Cole the sword.”

“But- but it’s **_mine_ **!” Kai protests, as Cole holds out his hand for the weapon. “Cole won’t even be able to use it right, and-“

Jay tunes him out as he comes up with a plan. Whatever this sword is, Kai clearly shouldn’t have it. So as the ex-demon starts a rambling complaint- God, he really is a child- Jay sneakily makes his way over until he’s standing right behind him.

Then, fast as lightning, he snatches the blade from his grasp and darts a few feet away. “Cole said you can’t have this.” 

Kai gives him the most offended and betrayed look. “ **_Jay_ **! You don’t even know what it is!”

“It’s a sword. A gold sword. That has something to do with fire.” Jay retorts, though he knows that everyone here is aware that he has absolutely no idea what’s so important about it.

Kai makes a sputtering noise, and Cole walks over to Jay. He reaches out for the sword, and the Blue Ninja lets him take it. 

“You can’t all gang up on me, that’s not fair.” The ex-demon quietly grumbles to himself, crossing his arms.

“So now what do we do?” Cole ignores the complaint, and so does everyone else.

“First, I think you all need some rest. We can go from there when you wake up.” Sensei Garmadon suggests.

Lloyd nods as he gets up. “Sleep would do us some good.” He agrees.

So the Sensei leads them to- well, Jay’s actually not sure what this place is, but he gets a bed, and that’s all he cares about at the moment.

All he cares about until Kai tries to get in next to him.

“ **_Wha-_ **?!” Jay immediately moves as far away as he can get. What the fuck, no, no he needs to get out of here what the actual-

“There’s only four beds!” Kai defends, though he clearly seems happy about this fact. “I’m volunteering to share! I-“

Cole picks him up and practically throws him into the empty one. “You’re making excuses and you know it. **_I’ll_ ** sleep with- er, share a bed with him.”

Kai’s smile drops, and he grumbles something too quiet to hear before going under the sheets of his own.

Cole hesitates a few moments as he looks at Jay. “I- uh, we don’t have to share, I can always try to find a air mattress and sleep on the fl-“

Jay quickly shakes his head. “No! No, uh, we can share.” He tries to ignore the faint blush the same way he ignores his racing heart.

Well, at least coming down from the adrenaline high makes him tired? Not that he needed any help with that.

Watching him for any sign of discomfort, Cole slowly gets in beside him. After a few moments, he relaxes.

And Jay’s not disappointed that he doesn’t roll over to cuddle with him. He’s not. Nope. Not the slightest bit.

With a sigh, Jay tries to calm down enough to drift off. 

This had been one Hell of a day.


End file.
